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GREAT TREASON PLOT 
m THE NORTH 

DURING THE WAR. 

Most Dangerous, Perfidious, Extensive and Start- 
ling* Plot ever Devised I 

IMMINENT HIDDEN PERILS OF THE REPUBLIC. 

/stounding Developments Never BefoFe Published. 



ILXJTJSTI^^T:E1D. 



By COIv. I. WINSIvOW AYKR, 

The Preserver of the City of Chicago; The Daring Officer 
of Secret Service, U. S., by whom the Formid- 
able Conspiracy was Broken Up. 



The Only Man Living who can give all the Thrilling Facts Concerning 

that Perilous Service. 
Including His Memorable Address Delivered in Central Music Hall, Chi- 
cago, to Assembled Thousands, by request of Many Posts, 
G. A. R., and by Citizens generally. 
Lieut. Governor Smith, of Illinois, Presiding. 
The Distinguished Services of COL. Ayer fully Recognized by the 
Highest Civic and Military Authorities of the Nation. 



Published by f< 

U. S. PuBiiiSHiNQ Co., Chicago, Ill,i 
[By SubscriptiqQ only— Price, $1.50,; 



\- 




Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1895, 

By I. WINSLOW AVER, 

In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington, D. C. 

All rights reserved. 

Printed by Eaton County Republican, 
Charlotte, Mich. 



PREFACE. 

Bv repeated requests of Posts of the Grand Army 
of the RepubHc, and of other patriotic citizens through- 
out the Union, the eloquent and memorable address of 
Col. I. Wi4islow Aycr is now presented to the general 
public, as a hitherto unwritten chapter of startling rev- 
elations, an entirely new link in the war history of our 
country, which cannot fail to deeply interest every 
American citizen who may carefully peruse it. 

Not only is the subject matter of the address given, 
but very many additional new, startling and intensely 
interesting facts have been introduced — most important 
information, not elsewhere accessible to the general 
public — in order to convey a connected, complete, com- 
prehensive and authentic history of the diabolical, 
unprecedented and extensive Treason Plot. 

From the work, lessons of gravest importance may 
be gleaned — matters well deserving the most thought- 
ful consideration, of all citizens, as relating to the exi- 
gencies of the present hour, as well as of years gone 
by. 

Col. Ayer is the oxxy man who can from personal 
knowledge, as an oiiicer and eye-witness, portray the 
terrible plot in all its; details. It is doubtless generally 



iv THE GREAT TREASON PLOT 

known that through his invaluable, and ^Derilous services, 
the City of Chicago was saved from pillage and destruc- 
tion, and the military authorities in Camp Douglas and 
prominent loyal citizens of Chicago were saved from 
inevitable slaughter. By his noble patriotism, courage, 
vigilance and tact, and the expenditure of his private 
fortune, the great Conspiracy, in all its enormity, was 
effectually and fully broken up. The hydra-headed 
conspiracy, so terrible in its designs, so wide-spread in 
extent, had been crushed out In its incipiency, so was it 
confidently believed by the military authorities, but only 
to quickly reaj^pear under another guise, more deadly 
in design and more formidable in power, than before. 
By Col. Ayer's investigation, zeal and heroism, the 
work was carried to a successful and final close. 
Arrests of the most dangerous leaders of the conspira- 
tors were made owXy forty -eight hours before the time 
fixed for the general uprising of the sworn, secret ene- 
mies of the Union! Immense quantities of munitions 
of war, and arms of all kinds wei^e seized in the Con- 
spirators' places of concealment. 

The North had promptly responded to the last call 
for " three hundred thousand more" for the front, when 
half a million of leagued, oath-bound and armed Con- 
spirators but waited the order to march to the support 
of the fast falling cause, to aid in the overthrow of the 
Union and the downfall of American liberty! 

As we wonder at and admire the daring of Col. 
Ayer, it may almost seem that he had a " charmed life" 



DURING THE WAR. v 

for no less than three known, desperate ancrdetermined 
attempts were made to assassinate him, but their bullets 
and their infernal machines were utterly powerless to 
swerve him in the least from his purpose to serve his 
Countr}^ It has been said of him by a distinguished 
General, that " he fought single handed, and defeated 
a mighty army of the secret foes of our country." 



From Major General Joseph Hooker, Command- 
ing THE Northern Department. 
Headquarters Northern Department: 

Chicago, May 3, 1S65. 
Col. I. WiNSLow Ayer, », 

Dear Sir: 
I have the pleasure as it is my duty to express to 3'ou 
in behalf of myself and our country, my sincere thanks 
for the very great service you have rendered the Gov- 
ernment. It was you who first a^Dprised the authorities 
of the existence of the formidable plots, which but for 
your timely discovery would have been attended with 
great disaster to the general government, and would 
have resulted in the destruction of Chicago. It is not 
easy to calculate the evils which would have resulted in 
the culmination of the plots of our secret enemy. Your 
dispatches were of immense importance to the Govern- 
ment. I cheerfully acknowledge your promptness in 
furnishing reports to the Brig. General commanding 
the District of Illinois, and the commandant of the Post 
at Chicago, and your co-operation w^ith that ofiicer in 



viii THE GREAT TREASON PLOT 

Two million dollars captured from the Union Army 
disbursed for the purchase of arms and munitions of 
war, in the States voted out of the Union. 

Names of prominent leaders present. 

Whisky, Treason, and Gunpowder. 

Character of the members of the Convention. 

Inside views of the Temples of Treason. 

A night scene in the Cartridge factory of the Con- 
spirators. 

Treasonable Orders with as many aliases as a State's 
Prison convict. 

Plot to release simultaneously all prisoners of war in 
Northern Prisons. 

Strongest Centers of the Conspiracy in the several 
States. 

Conspirators as Clerks of Provost Marshals, Tele- 
graph Operators, Trusted Officials, and employes upon 
all Railways in Chicago and certain other cities. 

Also as volunteer members of Union Armies, the 
better to steal horses, arms, and have the benefit of 
military drill. 

Their Plot for breaking up Union Military Compa- 
nies. 

Conduct of disloyal Judges in Indiana. 

Conspirators in Union Armies ordered to turn their 
arms a^-ainst their fellow soldiers, instead of the enemy. 



DURING THE WAR. ix 

Attempts to burn New York. Execution of Capt. 
Kennedy, the incendiaiy. 

The treasonable Order organized to resist Drafts in 
the Western States, in New York and elsewhere. 

Draft Riot in New York — bin-ning of the Colored 
Orphan Asylum — Three Days' Reign of Terror. 

An Atrocious Plot between Conspirators and Guer- 
rilla bands. 

Preparation of Greek Fire for the destruction of 
Union property. 

Cold blooded Assassination of Union vSoldiers and 
Citizens in Charleston, Illinois, and other places in Illi- 
nois and Indiana. 

A proposed general armed uprising of Conspirators 
by co-operation with and support of the Public enemy. 

Proposed attack upon Chicago, with steam tugs 
mounted with cannon. 

A similar course to be taken in Missouri. 

Treason Trials in Indiana. 

Greek Fire Shells, Hand Grenades, Rockets and 
Infernal Machines made in Indianapolis. 

Why the pro^DOsed Revolution in Indiana failed. 

Deeds and designs of Indiana Conspirators. 

Indiana to have been a " Second South Carolina." 

Three leading Conspirators in Indiana sentenced to 
the gallows. 

Supposed final suppression of ihie terrible plot. 



X THE GREAT TREASON PLOT 

Popular feeling of security fully restored. 

" Knights of the Golden Circle " had ceased to exist 
as an organization;*' American Knights" had also been 
crushed out — no apparent cause for further alarm. 

Address of "Grand Commander" H. H. Dodd of 
Indiana. 

The Conspirators moie active, virulent and danger- 
ous than ever before. 

Change of name to " Sons of Liberty." Change of 
base to Chicago— Unsuspected by authorities or people. 

Three degrees of the Order S. O. L. 

Extraordinary precautions against exposure. 

Whole regiments of armed and drilled conspirators 
in Chicago, and 140,000 members, armed, drilled and 
ready, in Illinois, to say nothing of other vStates. 

Complete Plot to simultaneously liberate all prison- 
ers of war — nearly forty thousand — in Northern pris- 
ons, beginning with the destruction of Chicago and 
slaughter of every otiicer and soldier in Camp Douglas. 

But five hundred Union soldiers, the guard of thir- 
teen thousand prisoners, including Morgan's men. 

No protection nor defense for the city of Chicago. 

Details of the Carnival of Death. 

The Black Flag! Slaughter of Union Soldiers and 
Citizens. 

Horrors of the first French Revolution to be re-en- 
acted in Chicago. 



DURING THE WAR. xi 

Preparing dispatches for Washington. 

Plot to assassinate Gov. Morton of Indiana — Bloody 
work for the " Committee of Ten." 

Time fixed for the general uprising. 

The People of Chicago apprehend no danger from 
a secret foe. 

Brisk trade in firearms and knives. 

The Conspirators fully armed and thoroughly drilled. 

Conspirators come to Chicago by thousands. 

The dawn of August 2S, 1S64. 

The Order harangued by a Judge, inciting murder. 

Bloodthirsty mobs in the streets of Chicago. 

Fifty thousand dollars for inciting the assassination 
of President Lincoln. 

Tlie murderous purpose known in Washington six 
months prior to the perpetration of the deed. 

Doomed cities in the North. 

The ballot, bullet, and "butternut" machiner}^ 

John Morgan and his men. 

Mary Ann Pitman, as the daring "Lieut. Rawley " 
of Forest's Command. 

Piracy on Lake Erie. 

Attempt to capture the U. S. War .Steamer, " Mich- 
igan," guarding Johnson's Island. 

Thrilling details of the plot. 

Banquet given on board the "Michigan'' by a lead- 
ing Conspirator. 



xii THE GREAT TREASON PLOT 

Tribute to be levied on all Lake Cities. 

Timely notice to the authorities. 

The Conspirator arrested at the table. 

Seizure of the steamers, " Philo Parsons" and 
" Island Queen " l)y the Pirates. 

Execution of Capt. Beal, Commander of the expedi- 
tion. 

A rebel officer and leading Conspirator heading a 
torch light procession in Chicago, in which were three 
regiments " Sons of Liberty." 

Why the uprising did not then occur. 

Date again fixed for the general uprising. 

The treasonable Order all ov^er the North, in concert 
of action. 

Concealment of boxes of fire arms and ammunition 
in every ward in the city of Chicago. 

Arms and various weapons stored near Windsor, 
Canada. 

An invading force of rufiians from Canada, in Chi- 
cago, to share in the slaughter of loyal people, and plun- 
der of the banks. 

Visit of Reconnaissance to Camp Douglas by the 
" Brig. Gen." of the Order. 

Definite designs for the liberation of all prisoners of 
war in Northern Posts. 

Rescue of a boy Captain of a rebel company, 
recruited in Chicago. 



DURING THE WAR. xiii 

Last session of the Council of Conspirators in Chicago. 

Sabbath evening, Nov. 6, 1864, in " Invincible Club 
Hall.'' A scene never to be forgotten. 

Revolution to be begun \n\\.\\\^ forty -eight hours. 

Gathering of a horde of Conspirators in the heart of 
the city. 

Desperadoes who had visited the city in August. 

Ruin, destruction and death seemingly inevitable. 

Distribution of loaded fire arms on the streets of Chi- 
cago, to the ruffians of the Order. 

Red and white ribbon, the distinguishing badge of 
the Conspirators. 

Fires to be kindled in various parts of the city, to 
cover the attack upon the Camp. 

The thirteen thousand prisoners in Camp apprised 
of the design by rockets, and by the "Woman who car- 
ried the mail." 

The time for action had arrived. 

Night calls of Union Soldiers upon the Conspirators. 

An exciting scene. Arrest of the leading spirits of 
the Order. 

Ruffians, murderers, and high toned scoundrels.- 

Many *' taken up tenderly, lifted with care." 

Seizui-e of munitions of war, boxes of loaded guns 
and cartloads of revolvers — weapons enough to stock an 
arsenal. 

A telegram of consternation to Conspirators in all 
places. 



xiv THE GREAT TREASON PLOT. 

The treasonable Orders fully, effectually and finally 
broken up. 

All haste for Canada. 

A grimly humorous side. 

Several known attempts to assassinate Col. Ayer. 

Partisan rancor in the North during the war. 

Treason in Public debates. 

Buildings made notable by assassins. 

Cowardice and hypocrisy of the leaders. 

Arrest, Trial, Sentence, Exile and Return of 
" Supreme Commander," Clement L. Vallandigham. 

Lessons for thinking people. 

Official report of the Judge Advocate General U. S. 

The Great Treason Plot in the North, largely the 
work of foreigners. 

St. Albans Raid. 

Assassination in this Country and in Europe. 

Brilliant Paragraphs of Patriotic Sentiment. 

The Race Problem in this Country. 

Are the Americans true to themselves ? 

The Golden Age of America. 

The Grand Army of the Republic. 

The Lieut. General of U. S. 

Sketch of the distinguished services of Gen. Franz 

Sigel. 

Tribute to the Nation's honored dead. 

Woman's Relief Corps. 



DURING THE WAR. xv 

Sons and Daughters of Veterns. 

The fatal Nineteenth of September. 

The Chickamauga National Mihtary Park. 

"Fighting Joe." Sketch of the mihtary record of 
Major General Joseph Hooker. 

Strength and Losses of the Union Army during the 
war. 

The Subject of the Services of Col. I. VVinslow 
Ayer, before United States Congress. 



DURING THE WAR. xvii 



ILLUSTRATIONS 



Portrait of the Author. 

Depot of Prisoners of War, Johnson's Island, Ohio. 
Chicago Conspirators before the Military Commis- 
sion. 

Portrait of Col. G. St. Leger Grenfell, hero of the 
Black Flag. 

Portrait of "Brig. Gen." Charles Walsh, Command- 
ing the Conspirators in Chicago. 

Portrait of Judge Buckner S. Morris, Grand Seignior 
of mini Temple, Chicago. 

Portrait of the Woman who carried the Mail to and 
from the prisoners of war in Camp Douglas. 

Portrait of Horace Heffren, Deputy Grand Com- 
mander of Conspirators, in Indiana, arraigned for 
treason. 

Andrew Humphreys "Colonel" of Conspirators in 
Indiana, arraigned for treason. 

Col. William A. Bowles ) Convicted of Treason 
Col. Lambdin P. Milligan I and Sentenced to the 
Col. Stephen Horsey ) gallows. 



xviii THE GREAT TREASON PLOT 

Full length picture of "Grand Commander" H. H. 
Dodd in his "grand" slack-rope performance. ["As 
the hour for daring deeds had come," the "Grand Com- 
mander" had not time to sit for his picture, and it was 
taken a la spider on the run.] 

Lieut. Rawley (a woman) of Forest's Command. 

Lieut. General John M. Schofield, U. S. Army 
(with sketch.) 

Gen. H. L. Burnett, Judge Advocate, Department 
of the Ohio and Northern Department, who tried the 
assassins of President Lincoln and the leading con- 
spirators. 

Maj. General Franz Sigel (with sketch). 

Thos. G. Lawler, Commander-in-Chief, G. A. R. 

Portrait of Gov. Morton, Indiana. 

Portrait of Gov. Yates, Illinois. 

Portrait of Gov. Blair, Micliigan. 

Old Camp Morton near Indianapolis. 

Old Camp Douglas near Chicago. 

Ford's Theater where President Lincoln was shot. 

House where President Lincoln died. 

The Old Surratt House where Booth's Assassination 
Plot was devised. 

The Old Seward Mansion where Secretary Seward 
was stabbed by the Conspirator "Payne," and where 
Hon. J. G. Blaine died. 

Portrait of Emma R. Wallace, Nat. President, 
Woman's Relief Corps. 



DURING THE WAR. xix 

Portrait of Jennie Bross, Nat. Secretary Woman's 
of tiie Relief Corps. 

Mrs. Sarah C. Mink, Past Nat. President, W. R. C. 
Old Military Camp and Prison at Rock Island, Ills. 
Portrait of Major General Joseph Hooker. 
Portrait of Col. B. J. Sweet, Commander of Camp 
Camp Chase near Columbus, Ohio. 
Infernal Machines, Shells, for Greek fire, etc. 

EXPLANATION OF THE LATTER. 



A— An ordinary traveling satchel, open; shows an alarm clock 
without bell; set at a a given time; on starting into motion it springs 
the lock of a gun which explodes a cap upon a tube charged with 
gun powder; this fires a train connected with a vial of Greek fire, and 
ignites tow saturated with turpentine. 

B B B— Conical shell, unscrewed 

B— A case containing powder with nipple at top for cap. 

D C— Screws into D; the space between being filled with Greelf 
fire. 

C and D— Form an internal shell loosely fitting the conical shell 
B. Striking a hard object, the blow explodes the cap of O. 

E-A spherical shell or hand grenade. 

F and G— The same unscrewed. 

H— An interior shell with nine nipples for caps, loosely fitting, 
leaving space for concussion. H unscrews in the center to hold K, a 
small vial of Greek fire, the space between filled with powder. Drop- 
ping the shell, even a few inches above the lloor, never fails to ex- 
plode a cap. The cord attached to the shell E enables a person to 
throw it a great distance. 



To ALL Posts of the Grand Army of the 
Republic, the Woman's Reliep^ Corps, and 

To all who in any wise responded to the call of our 
Country by services, material aid, or by sympathy, in 
the dark days of the rebellion and a patriotic people 
throughout our glorious union, this scrap of war history 
is affectionately dedicated by the author. 
Our Country Forever, 

Fraternally Yours, 

I. WiNSLOw Ayer. 




THE AUTHOR. 



^^ THE GREAT TREASON PLOT 



CHAPTER I. 

Secret Treasonable Orders— "Knights of the 
Golden Circle"— A more dangerous Order— 
The Serpent casts his Skin— The old enemy 

UNDER A NEW NAME-«SoNS OF LiBERTY "— ItS 

DEGREES, "Temple," "Grand Council," and 
"Supreme Council "—Material of which the 
Order was composed— A large Army of Con- 
spirators-Half million oath-bound trait- 
ors, armed with guns, rifles, revolvers 

I.ANCES AND GrEEK-FIRE-ThE ORGANIZATION 
COMPLETELY OFFICERED AND THOROUGHLY 

DRILLED— Strength of the Order and names 

OF THE LEADERS IN DIFFERENT StATES— ThE 

" Supreme Commander " of the Order in the 
United States-Clement L. Vallandigham 

arraigned FOR TREASON, CONVICTED AND SENT 
BEYOND OUR MILITARY LINES— HiS COOL RECEP 

TioN IN "Dixie "—His residence and "court" 



DURING THE WAR. 23 

IN Canada— What would have occurred had 

HE BEEN ARRESTED UPON HIS RETURN TO OhIO— 

Concealed arms near Windsor-^Munitions 
OF WAR and Infernal machines made in 
Indianapolis— A scheme to steal horses, arms 

AND EQUIPMENTS BY ENLISTMENT IN THE ARMY. ; 

For three decades the bright verdure of Sprhig, the 
l)eaiiteous flowers of Summer, the somber shades of 
Autumn and the ice gems of Winter have come and 
gone since the war closed,— since a grateful and patri- 
otic people all over the land, sang together anthems of 
joy and thanksgiving for the return of peace. The 
great conflict to the people of the present day, save to 
The actors in the thrilling drama, is but the memory of 
an oft told tale. 

In the years since gone by, " Time's effacing fingers " 
have obliterated the traces of warfare in the land. 
Golden gram now waves, and laughing flowerets bloom 
in fields once reddened with the life-blood of the brave. 
Sectional differences are happily settled for all time, and 
a brotherhood of patriotic men all over our broad 
domain join in their devotion for our glorious country- 
one and indivisible forever. 

Of the brave foemen who met us upon the open field 
of battle, to arbitrate differences by the last recourse to 
which men can appeal, the historic page presents the 
record of their valor as well as of the glorious triumphs 
of the Union arms; but the history of that eventful per- 
iod will not be complete till the thrilling records of the 
Secret Service shall have place upon its pages. As an 
ofiicer of our country during the darkest days of the 



24 THE GREAT TREASON PLOT 

Republic, I am thoroughly conversant, by personal 
experience and observation, with the stirring events of 
the times, and will give an unwritten chapter of our 
nation's history, — of startling revelations concerning the 
great conspiracy in the North during the war — the 
greatest, most perfidious and fiendish plot ever recorded 
in the annals of nations. 

Had our brave soldiers known when at the front all 
the facts relating to the miscreants and assassins who 
killed their comrades and menaced their wives and 
children, who lurked in our Northern cities and villages, 
seeking to ruin the Countrj', to paralyze our army, it 
would have blanched the faces of those men and start- 
led them with horror. To|have proclaimed to the pub- 
lic that a scheme had been concocted by our secret ene- 
mies, of so formidable a character, so insidious and 
deadly in its operations, so complete in its details, and 
so extensive in its scope, as that of which I shall speak, 
— that it had found favor and support in nearly all the 
cities and large villages of Illinois, Indiana, Missouri, 
Kentucky and sections of New York, Ohio, Iowa and 
certain other states — that scarcely a village in some of 
the states was exempt from its corruption, — that it 
included in its ranks as great a number of traitors, in the 
aggregate, as the number of men in the armies of Grant 
and Sherman, and that all who were so leagued recog- 
nized one common cause — the destruction of our coun- 
try, the defeat and humiliation of our arms and the tri- 
umph of rebellion, it would have been deemed a delu- 
sion by the majority of the people, had not the develop- 
ments before the military tribunals of the land estab- 
lished the facts beyond the shadow of a doubt. 



DURING THE WAR. 25 

Had not the conspirators been foiled at an opportune 
moment, their designs would have been executed in 
every particular, and in view of the then existing- con- 
ditions, it is scarcely possible to overestimate the disas- 
trous consequences to the cause of the Union. Not 
only will the public be astounded by the facts I shall 
present, but will realize, as never before, the imminent 
peril of the country and the greatness and importance 
of the services rendered by the nation's defenders. 

In the early years of the w;n-, it became evident to 
the people that secret treasonable organizations of a 
most dangerous character were in existence; their fruits 
were easily recognized. Our soldiers in the army were 
often importuned b}- letters to desert their posts and to 
betray their flag; soldiers visiting their homes upon fur- 
loughs were in several known instances murdered; 
dwellings of Union soldiers' families werebuinedby 
incendiaries; drafts of the Goveinment were resisted and 
Congressmen were approached with treasonable propos- 
als. But these are comparatively minor offences which 
these men are known to have perpetrated; my indict- 
ment will include more heinous crimes. 

Why not let by-gones be forgotten? The [)arties 
arraigned will lose votes and ofbce and caste by such 
reminiscences. They will not kill anv more Presidents, 
nor any more Union soldiers, perhaps! I am glad to 
believe that, and will assume my army comrades and all 
my countrymen will be also. The lapse of lime does 
not change guilt to innocence; it does not change mur- 
der into innocent pastime, nor treason into patriotism! 
Civilization can iind no a[)ology for such guilt and 
depravity. 



26 THE GREAT TREASON PLOT 

What branch of the Military service is it that trains 
men to stab and shoot and kill in secret, their fellow 
citizens and neighbors, — to pillage and bum their homes? 
I know no name for this other than assassination, brig- 
andage, incendiarism! These are not, nev^er were and 
never will be recognized as legitimate warfare by any 
civilized race, and least of all by Americans. Such 
crimes are and ever will be held in abhorrence by all 
good people throughout the world. While I would 
not incite animosity towards individuals, I would not 
seek to make respectable that which all good people 
everywhere hold in abhorrence; nor would I condone 
blackest guilt because of formidable numbers of the 
guilty. 

There are many, and some in high places, who perfer 
to let by-gones be forgotten; so there are better men, 
though felons in the States' prisons who prefer the same 
thing. It is from truthful history of the past, that 
nations as well as individuals may glean lessons of wis- 
doni for the future. 

Paris in 1789 was not more disturbed by plots against 
the Government, than was New York, Chicago, St. 
Louis, Indianapolis and certain other cities of the Union 
in 1862-3-4 ^^y Secret treasonable organizations. A 
brief sketch of the origin and purposes of the "Orders " 
will be essential for a complete understanding of the 
startling details to be presented. 

Prior to the breaking out of the rebellion in 1S61, 
secret organizations, the most effective agencies in the 
conspiracy against the Union, had not been introduced 
to any great extent into the non-slaveholding States, and 



DURING THE WAR. 27 

perhaps had no existence north of the compromise line 
of 1S20 known as Mason and Dixon's Hne, but south of 
this line, they had long been standing institutions in 
every city and populous district. On the 17th of April, 
1861, the report of the gun fired upon Fort Sumpter 
was heard by every member of these secret conclaves in 
the South, and was the signal for the opening of every 
"temple" of the order " K. G. C." in the land. 
Knowing the potency and efficacy of such agencies at 
the South, the plan of secretl}' organizing traitors in the 
northern States was determined upon as early as 1S63. 
With these views, shrewd and sagacious men estab- 
lished themselves in that year, in Missouri, Kentucky, 
Indiana, Illinois and certain other States, and put the 
machinery in motion. The order of " Knights of the 
Golden Circle," an old southern institution, started on 
its mission northward, and the work was vigorously 
begun in the border States. This plan was a success. 
It gradually spread, until it was firmly rooted in Illinois, 
Indiana, Iowa, Ohio, New York and parts of other 
States, and this within a few months of its introduction 
in the North. 

The Order was well adapted for the purpose for 
which it was organized — the inculcation of treason. 
Men of every station in life, united with the Order, and 
soon it could boast of its membership as including legis- 
lators, judges even of the higher courts, doctors, law- 
yers, merchants and indeed men from every avocation. 
While the leaders were cunning, many of them of high 
intellect and liberal education, the " rank and file " was 
composed of different material. It not being necessary 



28 THE GREAT TREASON PLOT 

by the tenets of the Order, that the latter should think at 
all, brains were at a disconnt, — muscle only was re- 
quired—beings who would fall into line at the word of 
command, and follow on to any undertaking, however 
desjDerate and criminal, without a thought concerning 
the character of the object to be attained — beings 
who could be led or driven wherever and whenever it 
might suit the purpose or designs of their masters. 

Men from the lowest walks of life were preferred, 
as material for tlie order. In the primary organization 
social distinction was waived by the leaders, and the 
lowest wretch in the order was placed upon a level with 
judges, merchants and politicians, — wnthin the hall of 
meeting, — thus offering inducements potent enough to 
make the lodge room a place of interest and attraction 
to the lower strata of the organization. So thrived and 
flourished the "Knights of the Golden Circle" in the 
North. The least of its evils was the destruction by 
Greek Fire of United States transports on the Ohio — 
notably the steamer " Taylor " at Louisville, and steam- 
ers laden with Government stores, on the Mississippi, 
etc. Being insufficient in {)owers of evil to fullv exe- 
cute the base purposes of the leaders, the organization 
was short lived in the north, but not so the elements of 
which it was composed. The suspicion of the Govern- 
ment had been aroused by the movements of the order, 
but the change of its name and the most careful pre- 
cautions upon the part of the leaders, cjuleted such dis- 
trust. The order of " American Kni^rhts " was at once 
organized, and members of the " K. G. C." were 
inducted; in other words the serpent had cast its skin 



DURING THE WAR. 29 

but was the same old serpent still. The old order with 
its new name adopted an entirely new feature — one of 
Military character, retaining still its incendiary powers 
and purposes. 

By the formation of degrees in the new Order, the 
leaders were able to give to each candidate in quest of 
its hidden mysteries^ a comfortable and genial sphere in 
which he could qualify himself for higher honors! By 
this ingenious plan, he would soon be competent to 
advance into full fellowship with its most diabolical 
designs! A glance at this organization, will show the 
shrewdness of the master spirits of evil in the formation 
of the order. It was composed of three degrees, viz: 
First, The Temple; Second, the Grand Council; and the 
Third, Supreme Council. 

The Temple degree, in some respects, resembled a 
County organization, and had a similar relation to the 
Grand Council, that the County does to the State. No 
person could become a member of the Grand Council 
who had not first been inducted into the Temple and 
elected to the "Grand Council." This body bore a sim- 
ilar relation to the " Supreme Council" that a State 
bears to the General Government. Sessions of the 
Grand Council were held almost every month during 
the years 1863-4. No considerable battle was fought 
that was not made an occasion for the assembling: of 
this Council, and no political event of any importance 
transpired that did not receive the deliberation of this 
de facto legislative body. 

The "Supreme Council," or third and highest degree, 
was formed after the pattern of the general Govern- 



30 THE GKEAT TREASON PLOT 

ment at Washington. The strength and significance of 
the Order was its Military character. The constitution 
of the Supreme Council provided that the Supreme 
Commander — the chief officer of that body^, should be 
Commander-in-chief of all the military forces of the 
Order in the several States when called into actual 
service. Subordinate to the Grand Commander in a 
State, were the Maj. Generals, each of whom com- 
manded his separate district. 

In Indiana there were four Maj. Generals. In Illi- 
nois, where the organization of the Order was consid- 
ered most complete, the members in each Congressional 
district composed a Brigade; the members in each 
County constituted a Regiment; and those in each 
township formed a Company. In Indiana each Com- 
pany was divided into squads — each with its Chief — an 
arrangement to facilitate the guerrilla mode of warfare. 

How complete was the design for effecting rebellion 
and revolution in the North! The whole machinery of 
a (xovernment de facto^ in disguise though it was, — 
with all its branches, both civil and military, in active 
operation for many months in our Northern cities, and 
almost within sight of the national capitol! 

Early in the Spring of 1864, was made a partial 
expose of the " American Knights " in St. Louis, Mo. 
The public were startled by the disclosures in the news 
journals of the day, and the Order in all places was in 
dismay and trepidation, but the apprehensions of the 
conspirators were quickly quieted by the information 
from the Supreme Council that the Order would hence- 
forth be known by another name, and that such radical 



DURING THE WAR. 31 

changes would be made as to defy recognition, to defeat 
further investigation by the authorities, and to enable 
the Order to do more effectual execution of its designs. 
The people in the meantime rejoiced in the belief that 
the agency of evil had been finally and fully extirpated. 

An extra session of the Supreme Council " Ameri- 
can Knights" was forthwith convened in New York, 
and fully attended. That body revised its ritual, 
changed the signs, passwords and grips for others, and 
called the organization thus remodeled " Sons of Lib- 
erty." It will be seen that the treasonable order had as 
many aliases as a State's prison convict, and for pre- 
cisely the same reason. 

The candidate for the order thus remodeled swore — 
I quote from their revised ritual — " ever to take up 
arms in the cause of the oppressed, in their own coun- 
try first of all, against any monarch, prince, potentate, 
power or government usurped and found in arms and 
waging war against a people or peoples who had of 
their own choice, inaugurated a Government for them- 
selves, in accordance with and founded upon the eternal 
principles of truth." 

In fact the latter was the same order as the " Ameri- 
can Knights " differing in name, and if possible more 
virulent and dangerous than the former. From the 
" Knights of the Golden Circle" sprang the "-Knights 
of Honor," from whom sprang the " American 
Knights;" from the " American Knights " sprang the 
"Sons of Liberty." The paternal ancestor of all was 
the Devd! There is nothing like being able to trace 
one's pedigree! 



32 THE GREAT TREASON PLOT 

The Order was composed of many classes of persons: 
— Educated scoundrels, political gamesters, ambitious, 
unscrupulous adventurers utterly devoid of patriotism ; 
anarchists, ignorant, inhuman wretches in whom not 
even Darwin could regard the evolution as complete 
from brutes to men — chiefly the outcasts of Europe; 
weak, passive men — dupes of the evil and designing; 
impulsive men schooled in error, who would go to any 
extreme in the name of liberty; and men opposed to 
the Union, with too high a regard for personal safety 
and comfort to peril either upon the field of battle. 

The first Supreme Commander of the Order, prior to 
its last change of name, was P. C. Wright of New 
York, who, in May 1S64, was arrested and confined in 
Fort Lafayette. His successor in office was C. L. 
Vallandigham, who was also arrested in May, 1S64, by 
order of Gen. Burnside and sent beyond the Union 
lines. He was lionized in Canada till he chose to return 
to Ohio. Rob't Halloway of Illinois is reported b}' 
Judge x\dvocate General Holt to have acted as Lieut. 
General or "Deputy Supreme Commander" during the 
absence of Vallandigham from the country. 

The Grand Commander in Indiana was H. H. Dodd, 
who was tried in Indianapolis for conspiracy, and es- 
caped from prison before the trial was finished. Since 
that time he has been Mayor of Fond-du-lac, Wis., and 
at present is an express agent in that city. The Grand 
Commander in Illinois was S. C. Judd, at one time can- 
didate for the office of Lieut. Governor of Illinois, and 
later Postmaster of Chicago. In Missouri, the chief 
officers were C. L. Hunt, Grand Commander; G. B 



DURING THE WAR. 33 

Smith, Grand Secretary; C. E. Dunn, Deputy Grand 
Commander, all three of whom were arrested, and all 
made confessions. In Kentucky, Judge Bullitt of the 
Court of Appeals was Grand Commander. The greater 
number of the chief and subordinate officers of the 
Order, as well as the principal members in the several 
states" are known to the Government. The Supreme 
Council of conspirators held a session in New York, 
Feb. 22nd, 1S64, and called a special session in Chicago 
for August 27th of the same year. Of the special ses- 
sion we shall speak again. 

The treasonable Order comprised a very large army 
of well armed and thoroughly drilled men — in readi- 
ness at any and all times for forcible resistance to the 
Union arms — a most formidable force against the life of 
the Government. The Temples and Councils of the 
Order were numerously scattered throughout the States 
of Indiana, Illinois, Ohio, Missouri, Kentucky and to a 
less extent in Michigan, Iowa, New York, Pennsyl- 
vania, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Connecticut, 
New Jersey, Maryland, Delaware and Tennessee. 

In Indiana, the Order was most strongly centered at 
Indianapolis and Vincennes; in Illinois, at Chicago, 
Springfield and Quincy, — the Temples in the latter 
place having been founded by the notorious guerrilla 
chief, Jackman; in Ohio, at Cincinnati, Dayton and 
Hamilton — the "South Carolina" of the North; in Mis- 
souri, at St. Louis; in Kentucky, Louisville; in Michi- 
gan, at Detroit, whence communication with Vallan- 
digham during his banishment, or rather his residence, 
at Windsor, was freely had by the leaders, by letters 
and interviews. 



34 THE GREAT TREASON PLOT 

At the annual meeting of the " Supreme Council " in 
New Yorls: city, February 22, 1S64, it was officially 
reported that the membership of the Order was between 
eight hundred thousand and a fnilllon^ but Val- 
landigham, at his Dayton, Ohio, home, placed the 
ai'i7ied and drilled mcfnbershi'p at half a million! 

The force of the Order in Indiana was stated to be 
125,000; in Illinois, 140,000; Ohio, 108,000; in Ken- 
tucky, 70,000; in Missouri, 40,000, and in Michigan 
and New York, 20,000 each. Guerrillas were gladly 
received as members of the Order. It was not till the 
Summer of 1863 that the conspirators began to organ- 
ize as an armed body, and from that date it was rapidly 
placed upon a military basis and prepared for a revolu- 
tionary movement. In Ohio and Illinois the members 
of the Order were especially well armed with carbines, 
revolvers, etc. In Indiana, in March, 1864, there were 
in possession of the Order, six thousand muskets and 
sixty thousand revolvers, besides private arms. Gen. 
Carrington estimated that in February and March, 
1864, thirty thousand guns and revolvers were brouglit 
into the State, and this is corroborated by invoices found 
by the authorities. So great was the demand for fire 
arms, that the dealers could not promptly fully sup- 
ply them. 

Had Vallandigham been arrested on his return to 
Ohio, the Order would have been supplied with arms 
from a point in Canada, near Windsor, where they 
were stored and ready for use. 

A statement was made by Grand Commander Hunt, 
of Missouri, before his arrest, that shells and all kinds 



DURING THE WAR. 35 

of munitions of war, as well as infernal machines, were 
manufactured for the Order at Indianapolis, and the 
later discovery, in Cincinnati, of hand-grenades, conical 
shells and rockets, made for the " Sons," verifies his 
statements. 

At the time of issue of the general order in Missouri, 
requiring the enrollment of all citizens, it was proposed 
by the conspirators in St. Louis to raise companies in 
the militia, to obtain as many Government arms and 
equipments as possible; it was proposed that all the 
members should enroll themselves in the militia, thus 
obtaining possession of United States arms, and having 
the advantage of drill and military instruction. 



THE GREAT TREASON I'LOT 



CHAPTJ'.R II. 

Signs, Lettkhs and Battle signals — WnoLit 

COMPANIES OF THE UnION AKMV BROKEN VI' I4\ 

TRAITORS — Disloyal judges seek to embar- 
rass THE Government — Desertion encoub 
AGED — Draft Riots in New York— Reign oi 

TeKROR — BuiiNIN(i OF THE Coi.OllliD ( ill I'll A \ 

Asylum — Teiuiirle loss oi- lu f — Howlinc,, 

rlood-thirsty mor enrolling officers sir) l 

— Draft records destroyed — Drafted Con- 
spikators to shoot their fellow soldiers 

AlltOCIOUS PLOT OF CONSPIHATOUS AND Gl'EH- 

RiLLAs — Assassination of soldiers and citi 
ZENS — Plot for a general uprising of rui 
Order of ConspiratorSj where yf;r existixi 
— Co-operation upon In extensive scale, 



DURING THE WAR. 37 

WITH THE Southern forces — Startling de- 
tails — Telegraphs to be cut, Railroads torn 
UP, Capture of Officers, seizure of arsenals. 
Simultaneous Release of all Prisoners of 
WAR from Northern Camps and Prisons — 
Attack to be made upon Chicago by Steam- 
tugs MOUNTED with CANNONS ExPECTED AD- 
VANCE OF Lee upon Washington — Slaughter 
of Union Soldiers by Conspirators in 
Charleston, Illinois — Design for a North- 
western Confederacy — Reverses of Union 
arms occasions for great rejoicing by the 
Order — A Military Commission arraigns 
Conspirators in Indiana — Three leaders of 
THE Order sentenced to the gallows. 

Their system of signs of warning and danger, battle- 
signals, etc., was complete and always heeded. Their 
letters were in cypher and in ordinary writing, the real 
meaning being the reverse of the expression; this was 
shown by a circle with a line across it^, at the close of 
the letter. The meetings of the Order m country places 
were generally held at night, in secluded localities, the 
approaches being carefully guarded by a line of senti 
nels or pickets, who could only be passed by means of 
a countersign. 

Through the schemes of the Conspirators in Indiana, 
whole companies in the Union army were broken up, — 
a large detachment of a battery company, for instance, 



38 THE GREAT TREASON PLOT 

upon one occasion deserting to the enemy with 'two of 
their guns. 'J'he camps were imbued with a spirit of 
discontent and dissatisfaction with the- service. The 
Adjutant General of Indiana set forth in his report, that 
the number of deserters and absentees returned to the 
army through the post of Indianapohs alone, in the 
month of December, 1862, was two thousand six hun- 
dred. Then disloyal judges discharged deserters upon 
writs of Jiabeas co7"pus. One of such writs being re- 
fused by an officer, the Chief Justice of the State at- 
tached the officer for contempt, declaring that "the 
streets of Indianapolis might run with blood, but that 
he would enforce his authority against the President's 
order." At another time, United States officers who 
had arrested deserters in Illinois, were themselves ar- 
rested for kidnapi^ing, and held for trial, while the dis- 
loyal judge discharged the deserters, acknowledging 
them to l)e sucli. 

Soldiers were urged by the Order to desert, and as- 
sured of protection, and also urged to bring with them 
their arms, and if mounted their horses. Details sent 
to arrest them were forcibly resisted, \yhere arrests 
were effected, our troops were openly attacked and 
fired upon, on their return. Such attacks occurred in 
Morgan and Rush Counties, Indiana, and are espec- 
ially referred to by Gen. Carrington. 

In 1S62 the "Knights of the Golden Circle," organ- 
ized to resist the draft in the city of New York, and in 
the Western States, and in some places greatly em- 
barrassed the Government. While the "K. G. C." 
were neither regularly armed, nor drilled in the use of 



DURING THE WAR. 39 

arms, their mode of assailing Union men was by pri- 
vate weapons, and gatherings of street mobs incited to 
deeds of violence by harrangues of the leaders, till, as 
an exiimple of their fiendish work, it will doubtless be 
remembered that a draft of 300,000 men had been or- 
dered, but the proceeding was so interrupted in the cit}^ 
of New York, by an infuriated mob, that drafting there 
was effectually prevented, and for three entire days and 
nights the city was in possession of a howling and 
murderous mob. A reign of terror prevailed. Neither 
the city authorities, nor the military called into service 
were able for three days to quell the riot. Officers 
were shot dead upon the street, in the discharge of 
their duties, and as the mob swelled in numbers, and 
with fury surged along, bent only upon deeds of vio- 
lence, they attacked and burned the coloi-ed orphan 
asylum, causing the death of many human beings as 
well as the destruction of property. Not till more 
than a hundred of the rioters had been shot by the mil- 
itary force called upon, was the riot finally quelled and 
order restored. 

In certain other cities the work of drafting was pre- 
vented, and the records destroyed, and so great the em- 
barrassment of the Government, that but fifty thous- 
and men in all were drafted, though three hundred 
thousand men had been called. 

In 1862 and early in 1S63 a number of enrolling 
officers were shot in Indiana and Illinois. In Black- 
ford County, Ind., an attack was made upon the Court 
House and the books connected with the draft were 
destroyed. In Indiana two hundred persons were in- 



40 THE GREAT TREASON PLOT 

dieted for conspiraey against the Government, and 
sixty of them were convicted. 

Among members of the treasonable order in Indiana, 
as w^ell as in lUinois and in other States, w^ere men 
high in authority, members of the legislatures — occa- 
sionally a Senator and Representative, and also mem- 
bers of Congress, Judges, Prosecuting Attorneys, 
Jailors and Postmaters. Where members of the Order 
were forced into the army by the draft, they were 
counselled by their fellow conspirators, if desertion 
were not practicable, and they were obliged to go to 
the field, to turn their arms against their fellow sol- 
diers, rather than the enemy. 

Col. vSanderson, Provost Marshal General of the De- 
partment of Missouri, reported the dej^artment filled 
with rebel spies, all of whom belonged to the Order. 

An atrocious plan of concert between members of 
the Order in Indiana and certain guerrilla bands of 
Kentucky was agreed upon and executed in the Spring 
of 1864. Some 2,500 or 3,000 guerrillas were thrown 
into the border counties, and assumed the character of 
refugees seeking employment. Being armed, they were 
secretly to destroy Government property wherever 
practicable, and subsequently to control the elections by 
force, prevent enlistments and aid deserters. Shortly 
before the arrest of W. A. Bowles, the senior of Major 
Generals of the Order in Indiana, he had been engaged 
in the preparation of " Greek Fire," to be used for the 
destruction of public property. 

The cold-blooded assassination of Union citizens and 
soldiers was included in their devilish scheme of opera- 



DURING THE WAR. 41 



tions. G. B. Smith, Grand Secretary of the Order in 
Missouri, stated in his confession that " the secret assas- 
sination of United States officers, soldiers and Govern- 
ment employes, had been discussed in the Councils of 
the Order, and recommended." At a large meeting of 
the Order in St. Louis, Missouri, in June, 1S64, it wa^ 
proposed to form a secret police of members for the 
purpose of patroling the streets of that city at night and 
killing every detective and soldier w^ho could be readily 
disposed of. The proposal w^as finally rejected, not be- 
cause of its fiendish character, — no voice being raised 
against its criminality, but because it was deemed 
premature! 

The Order entertained a grand plan of a general 
armed uprising, and its co-o^Dcration on an extended 
scale, with the Southern forces. This pUn was two- 
fold, — first, of a rising of the Order in Missouri, aided 
by a strong detachment from Illinois, and co-operation 
with a rebel army under Price; second, of a similar ris- 
ing in Indiana, Ohio and Kentucky, and co-operation 
with a force under Breckenridge, Buckner, Morgan or 
some other commander, who was to invade the latter 
States. 

Acting upon this plan, the Conspirators were, first of 
all, to cut the railroads and telegraphs, so that mtelli- 
gence of the movement might not be sent abroad, and 
that the transportation of Federal troops might be de- 
layed ; then to seize upon the arsenals at Indianapolis, 
Columbus, Springfield, Louisville and Frankfort, and 
supply such of their number as were without arms; to 
kill or make prisoners of department, district and post 



42 THE GREAT TREASON PLOT 

commanders, nnd release the rebel prisoners from 
northern prisons, and then unite with the Southern 
army at Louisville, or some other point in Kentucky. It 
was also proposed that an attack should be made upon 
Chicago, by means of steam -tugs, mounted with can- 
non. A similar course was to be taken in Missouri. 
This scheme had long occupied the minds of the Order. 
A rising was planned to occur in the Spring of 1864, 
simultaneously with an expected advance of the army .of 
Lee upon Washington, but the plans of the enemy hav- 
ing been anticipated by the movements of the Union 
Generals, the rising of the Conspirators was necessarily 
postponed. 

As a forcible illustration of the utter malignity and 
depravity which characterized the conspirators, may be 
recalled the wholesale assassination of Union soldiers by 
the Order, at Charleston, Illinois, in March, 1864. This 
concerted murderous assault upon a scattered body of 
men, mostly unarmed, was evidently designed for the 
purpose of destroying as many lives of Union soldiers 
as possible. 

In relation further to the specific purposes of the Or- 
der must be mentioned the design for establishing a 
" Northwestern Confederacy." 

Hating New England and jealous of her influence 
and resources, and claiming that the interests of the 
West and South, naturally connected as they are 
through the Mississippi Valley, are identical, and actu- 
ated, further, by an intenselv revolutionary spirit, as 
well as an unbridled and unprincipled ambition, they 
made the establishment of a " Northwestern Confeder- 



DURING THE WAR. 43 

acy" in alliance with the South, the o^rand aim of their 
plotting and conspiring. With this object in view, they 
gloated over every reverse of the armies of the Union, 
and desired that the rebellion would be protracted until 
the resources of the Government should be exhausted, 
its strength paralyzed, its currency hopelessly depre- 
ciated, and confidence everywhere destroyed; then from 
the anarchy, which, under their scheme was to ensue, 
the new Confederacy was to arise, which was either to 
unite itself with the South, or to form therewith, a close 
and permanent alliance. 

Such the character, purposes and aims of the treason- 
able Order. In verification of what I have stated, I cite 
the sworn evidence of Gen. Burnside, Gen. Carrington, 
Judge Advocate General Holt, Col. Sanderson, Provost 
Marshal General of the department of Missouri, Gen. 
Rosecrans, Gen. Hove}' and Gen. Burbridge; also o^ 
officers of the highest rank in the treasonable Order, 
who made confessions, — among whom was State Sen- 
ator H. Heffren, who, for four years was a member of 
the Senate of Indiana, and when on trial for conspiracy 
against the Government, turned State's evidence. 

In Indianapolis, Indiana, September, 1864, there 
were conducted trials for treason, disclosing the plans 
for establishing a Northwestern Confederac}^, develop- 
ing the origin, history and purposes of the treasonable 
Orders, presenting the Greek Fire shells. Hand 
grenades, rockets and infernal machines, etc., of the 
Conspiracy. The prisoners so tried were the Grand 
Commander and other chief officers of the Order, 
"American Knights,'' in Indiana, viz: Harrison H. 



44 THE GREAT TREASON PLOT 

Docld, William A. Bowles, L. P. Milligan, Stephen 
Horsey, Andrew Humphreys and H. Heffren. Dodd 
escaped from prison during the trial. He had been 
confined in an upper room in the Post Office building 
but by aid of outside parties, he effected his escape and 
was not recaptured. Bowles, Milligan and Horsey 
were convicted and sentenced to the gallows; Heffren 
testified against his comrades in crime. Andrew Hum- 
phreys was not sentenced. 




CONSPIRATORS BEFORE THE MILITARY COMMISSION. 



46 THE GREAT TREASON PLOT 



CHAPTER III. 

Secession Convention in Chicago — The 
*' Supreme Council" — Notables Present — 
Confederate Representatives take an im- 
portant PART — Details of the Revolution- 
ary Plot — "The best laid plans of mice 

AND MEN AFT GANG AGLEE " — A TeMPLE 

"Sons of Liberty " open for business — Ini- 
tiation of members — Inside view of a 
Temple — The members — Indiana to lead the 

VAN in establishing A NORTHWESTERN CON- 
FEDERACY — Supposed complete abandonment 
of the Plot — Change of base of the Con- 
spirators from Indianapolis to Chicago— 



DURING THE WAR. 47 

Moke active, virulent and dangerous than 

EVER before No SUSPICION OF DANGER FROM A 

SECRET FOE BY AUTHORITIES OR PEOPLE. 

On July 20, 1S64, a iT^eeting of the Supreme Council 
" Sons of Liberty," the latest name of the Order of 
banded conspirators, was held in Chicago. Among nota- 
bles present was a Maj. General of the Order, Col. Bar- 
rett, who had officiated as Grand Commander and held 
the position of Chief of Staff to the Supreme Comman- 
der of "American Knights," but who, on this occasion, 
appeared as Representative of the Confederate Govern- 
ment! There were also present Judge Bullitt, of the 
Court of Appeals, Kentucky, many military men and 
other notables, two of whom were later tried for trea- 
son, convicted and sentenced to the gallows. The 
Major General of the Order, who now appeared as 
Representative of the " Confederacy," made a formal 
proposition to unite Illi^iois, Indiana, Ohio, Kentucky 
and Missouri with the " Southern Confederacy " 
through the agency of the Order. He stated that the 
Confederacy had authorized him to place at the dis- 
posal of the Order the sum of Two million dollars^ — 
which had been captured from the Union army — to be 
used by the Order in preparing for an uprising against 
the Union (jovernment; that it would be distributed 
among the Grand Commanders in the several ^States, 
to be expended for arms and ammunition. 

The measure proposed was unanimously adopted, 
and so far as it was possible for this infamous body of 
traitors to unite the five States — Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, 



48 THE GREAT TREASON PLOT 

Missouri and Kentucky — with the " vSouthern Confed- 
eiacy," it was done. 

It was understood that Price and Buckner were to 
l)e the co-operative forces at the time of the uprising. 
It was further arranged that the lUinois forces of the 
Order were to Hberate the rebel prisoners in that State, 
and to concentrate at St. Louis, Mo., to co-operate with 
Pri<^e's forces. The details of the Revolutionary Plot 
were fully, enthusiastically discussed, and unanimously 
accepted. Arrangements were made to release the 
prisoners of war in all Northern' camps, and the army 
of veterans and conspirators were to unite with the 
Southern arm}'. But "the best laid plans of mice and 
men, aft gang aglee," and later we shall find the order 
of exercises materially changed. The Supreme Coun- 
cil, at that session, also made some suggestions and 
passed resolutions concerning the date of August 27th 
ensuing. 

A quarter of a century ago, a person in passing 
down vSouth Clark Street, Chicago, might notice upon 
the right, a large building of peculiar construction, 
bearing the name "Invincible Club Hall." It was here 
the Temples of the "American Knights," or, as later 
called, the "Sons of Liberty," held their secret sessions, 
going stealthily up the stairs, singly or m groups of 
two or three, to avoid observation, and when inside the 
hall they were guarded by an outside sentinel, whose 
office it w^as to apprise them of danger, and to guard 
against its approach to the temple. But when the 
"American Knights" became "Sons of Liberty," "the 
Temple of the Illini" removed from Clark Street to 



DURING THE WAR. 49 

the large building upon the corner of Randolph and 
Dearborn Streets, known as "McCormick's Block." 

Every Thursday evening prior to the 8th of Novem- 
ber, 1S64, the windows of the hall, in the fifth story, 
gave evidence that 'the apartment was occupied, but 
further than this evidence, was not for the observer, 
unless perchance he was a member of the Order. 
Clambering up the long flights of stairs that led to the 
hall, on a Thursday evening, the party in quest of dis- 
covery would be not a little surprised at the class of 
men he would notice upon the march upward. He 
would involuntarily button his pockets, and keep as far 
distant from his fellow travellers as possible, for a more 
God-forsaken looking class of wretches never before 
entered a respectable building, and it is a matter of doubt 
whether so many graceless scoundrels were ever before 
convened in one building in Chicago, not excepting the 
Armory, when the police have been unusually active 
and vigilant. (Occasionally a fine looking man would 
brush hastily by you, as if afraid of being discovered 
and recognized, not in the least conscience-stricken, per- 
haps, for his intentions. You would scarcely be will- 
ing to believe that he was the presiding genius of the 
room in the upper regions, and bound to dispense light 
and ivisdojii to the motley crowd, who would soon be 
filling the hall with fumes of cheap tobacco and the 
poorest quality of whiskey, mingled with the fragrance 
of onions, borne by gentle zephyrs from yonder open 
vestibule. Now comes a lawyer of some distinction, 
and here a Justice of the Peace, who wears a look of 
wisdom, and upon his face you may read that he is cer- 



50 THE GREAT TREASON PLOT 

tain that " the despot Lincohi " and " Lincoln's hire- 
hn^s " and " Lincoln's bastiles " are all going together 
beneath the wheels of the triumphal car drawn by the 
opposition. 

But we need not try to find any great number of fine 
loo^king men in close proximity to the hall. Arriving 
on the fifth floor, and proceeding to a door, your friends 
casting furtive glances around and behind them, disap- 
pear by the door, and are lost to view; the room is as 
vacant as a last year's robin's nest; there is a door and 
a closed aperture, this and nothing more. Advancing 
to the door, and giving three raps, the slide, which 
covers the aperture, is moved aside and a face appears 
at the orifice. Whisper the word '* Peace," or " Peo- 
ria," or whatever the monthly password may be, and 
the door is opened, and we find ourselves within the 
vestibule of the temple, surrounded by a group going 
through the preliminary exercises of initiation. 

We see the candidate and sponsors, with hands up- 
lifted, and listen to the reading from the ritual by an 
official, who is giving the new-comer his first dose of 
State's sovereignty and secession. This is so mystified 
and clouded with high sounding »words that the poor 
devil nods every time the reader stops for breath, and 
this part of the ceremony is concluded; and the candi- 
date, — respectable for the good clothes which he wears 
upon this occasion, as a rarity, — follows his conductor 
to another door, and is coming rapidly into good fel- 
lowship with men of high judicial standing. 

Again they knock, and are challenged by an inside 
guardian, who lectures the rosy-faced "Son," who hav- 



DURING THE WAR. ftl 

ing nodded sufficiently, is conducted to the "Ancient 
Brother in the West," so that the So?i^ reversing the 
order of nature, begins rising in the West. The 
"Ancient Brother" is a better reader, for here we find 
brains for the first time in the cereniony,as the leaders 
do all the thinking, unless perchance the ignorant 
wretches find themselves in prison, when they begin 
thinking for themselves. 

On the North side of the room is another platform 
and desk, where a "guardian" sits and addresses the 
candidate, who is supposed to have lost his way, and to 
be set right by this guardian; and even if the candidate 
is thoroughly sober, he may be excused for losing his 
way, for it is a matter of doubt whether he was ever in 
such a labyrinth of words, as he has just heard from 
the Ancient Brother, who, having administered his 
dose, has required the poor candidate to make oath to 
all matters for which he has nodded, and to invoke 
upon his head the direst curses should he ever betray 
the secrets of the Order, and has been informed that if 
he should, in any way or manner, communicate to the 
outside world any secret of the Order, he will surely, 
sooner or later, meet a shameful death, prior to which 
he shall suffer all sorts of penalties! The new Brother, 
now happy in the thought that he has taken himself in 
out of the d?'aft^ advances to the center of the hall, and 
turning his back upon the Ancient Brother, stands fac- 
ing the Grand Signior, whom he salutes by applying 
the palm of his right hand to his lips, then, turning the 
hand to his signiorship, and bringing his left hand 
across his breast, which salutation being returned, the 



52 THE GREAT TREASON PLOT 

So7t appears in the East, rcHectini^ his effulgence all 
around ! 

The Grand vSij^nlor explains the ceremony, giving 
the new Brother another dose of secession, about as 
much as the poor fellow can carry, then gives the sign 
of distress, — by raising the right hand and crying Ocoon 
three times, which he says is made up of the name 
Calhoun — a name mentioned with great reverence. 
Thus closes the initiation of a vSon of Liberty. 

This organization, as a body, in Chicago, and every- 
where else, was the gathering together to be wielded 
against the Government, of all the bitter and hostde 
elements in the Northern vStates. It was truly but a 
" whited sepulcher." To the world, it exhit)ited 
nothing of its inner corruption, but concealed its acts, 
character and purposes, — its very name, its very exist- 
ence; ])ut within, it was filled with dead men's bones 
and all manner of corruption. (3ver the doors of its 
temples shoidd have been inscribed the maxim that 
the Romans used for their own city, in the days of the 
Inquisition, — " He who would live holily, depart from 
Rome. All things are allowed here, except to be 
upright." 

All things were allowed in these Temples, except to 
be loyal, true, faithful to the mother who had cherished 
and nourished them, — that mother, our beloved country! 

The greater part of the Hvo viillion fund was ex- 
pended for arms and munitions of war. A thousand 
dollars of it, however, that was placed in the hands of the 
" wrong man," was used to pay bounties to Union 
soldiers! 



DURING THE WAR. 5 3 

Bowles, of Indiana, made arrangements for arming 
with lances and revolvers some four thousand men. 
This " Major General," so full of malignity was a white 
haired old man whose appearance would have awakened 
pitv that he was so corrupt, so degraded, but as I looked 
over this wide-spread and once beautiful and peaceful 
land and saw patriots with whitened locks, and millions 
of defenceless women and little children, with out- 
stretched hands appealing to Almighty God for pro- 
tection from the treason that would plot and the traitors 
who v/ould destroy, — from the rebels, who, with fire and 
sword, w^ould bring desolation upon all our fair land, 
and cause a wail of anguish and bereavement to ascend 
from every home, — what man, with a spark of patriot- 
ism, would not feel a broader duty, a broader sympathy 
with the suffering that the villain and such as he had 
caused, and that he and such as he would cause, if per- 
mitted to move forward in'^this w^ork of treason, destruc- 
tion, desolation and death! 

The conspiracy and revolution, to have been inaugu- 
rated in Indiana, failed simply because the hand of tae 
Government was at its throat, and the strong military 
arm of the Government had fastened upon it, its mailed 
hand had grappled it, and its giant-like grip was all the 
more determined, in that its dragon-like foe w^as both 
subtle and strong. It was the intent of the " Order " to 
make Indiana a " Second South Carolina," to lead 
the van in establishing a " Northwestern Confederacy!" 
It was but again laying down an abominable plot of re- 
bellion, to be consummated in the Northern States, as it 
had been in the Southern: to blacken and desolate this 



54 THE GREAT TREASON PLOT 

beautiful land of ours, as it had blackened theirs; to send 
up from every heart the wail of desolation and death 
that had followed in the wake of the phantom of seces- 
sion. 

These leaders were intelligent and influential, hence 
most dangerous. They went bawling about the countiy 
with inflaming speech and mock patriotism, arraigning 
the authorities as usurpers, tyrants and despots, poison- 
ing the public heart against those in authority, — clam- 
oring for peace, in the face of embattled armies, — fan- 
ning the embers of discord and revolt, kindling by 
incendiary appeals the fires of insurrection and revolu- 
tion, and finally identifying themselves with the cause 
of rebels and traitors, and lending themselves in thought 
and deed, by night and day, in seciet and in public, giv- 
ing aid and, comfort to the public enemy against their 
own Government! This is conspiracy and treason; it 
has all the disloyal lineaments of treasonable deformity, 
and neither eloquence nor art, nor painting nor poetry 
can change it; its office is discord, war and misery. Of 
such was the character of every prisoner tried and con- 
victed by the Military Comniission in Indianapolis. 

With the confessions of some of the leaders, and the 
conviction of the prisoners; with the expose and the 
captui'e of arms, etc., it was confidently believed, both 
by the authorities and the people, that the treasonable 
orders had been fully and finally broken up, and that 
the great moral cancer had at last been effectually ex- 
tirpated; and when the Commission closed its labors 
and its session, the members and people rejoiced in the 
supposed complete overthrow of the terrible plot, and 



DURING THE WAR. 65 

all were fully confident that clanger from a secret 
enemy could never again exist in the land. But there 
could be no greater error, for, notwithstanding the gen- 
eral feeling of safety and security, at that very moment 
the conspirators were more active, more virulent and 
more vengeful than ever before; and with the change of 
base from Indianapolis to Chicago, the deadly work 
went on, and more rapidly the order increased in num- 
bers, as will be seen by the thrilling details to be pre- 
sented. 

The Indiana pro rata of the two millions fund had 
been expended for arms and munitions of war, and 
these had been seized upon arrival by the orders of 
Governor Morton, to the great chagrin and numerous 
dire threats upon the part of the conspirators. 



56 THE GREAT TREASON PLOT 



CHAPTER IV. 
Deeds and designs of Indiana Conspirators 
as disclosed and corroborated ry the pro- 
ceedings before the military commission 

Harrison H. Dodd, William A. Bowles, L. 

P. MlLLKiAN, STIiPHEN HoRSEY, HoRACE 

Heffren AND Andrew Humphreys tried on 
CHARGE oi' Treason — Experiments with 
Greek Fire isy R. C. Booking, in a secret 

meeting of conspirators destruction by 

Grmek Fire of U. S. transporis and steam- 
ers AT THE WHARF IN LoUISVILLE AND 

further down the oliio— "just the thing 
wanted" — Many boxes of fire arms and 

AMMUNITK)N BOUGHT IN NeW YoRK, MAitKED 
"JEWELRY," SHIIM'ICD TO I N Dl A N A I'OL I S, AND 



DURING THE WAR. 57 

SEIZED BY THE AUTHORITIES ASSESSMENTS OF 

THE Order for arms — From whence these 

WERE to come. 

The following details of the deeds and designs of the 
Indiana Conspirators are of special interest, and are 
fully corroborated by sworn evidence before the Mili- 
tary Commission, convened at Indianapolis in the 
Autumn of 1864, for the trial of several of the leaders 
of the Order ''American Knights." 

The first person placed upon trial was Harrison H. 
Dodd of Indiana., who was charged with conspiring 
with members of "American Knights" having a civil 
and military organization, the design and purpose of 
the Order being to overturn the Government of the 
United States. It was charged that the prisoner, H. H. 
Dodd, did conspire with William A. Bowles, J. F. 
Bullitt, L. P. Milligan, D. F. Yeakle, Andrew 
Humphreys and John C. Walker, severally holding 
military positions and rank in the secret treasonable 
order "American Knights," to seize by force the 
United States and State arsenals at Indianapolis, Ind., 
Columbus, O., and to release the prisoners of war in 
Northern prisons. It was further charged that Dodd, 
acting as "Grand Commander" of Indiana, so styled, 
did communicate with the enemies of tlie United States 
with intent that they should invade Kentucky, Indiana 
and Illinois. He was charged with inciting insurrec- 
tion and holding the office of "Grand Commander" 
or "Commander-in-Chief" of all Military forces for 
Indiana in the Order American Knights, of appointing 



58 THE GREAT TREASON PLOT 

Major Generals of the Order, and that he did recognize 
the "Supreme Commander" as Commander-in-Chief of 
all Military forces of the Order in the United vStates; 
he was also charged with preventing enlistments in the 
arnaies of the United States, etc. 

Felix G. Stidger, U. S. detective, testified that Dr. 
(xatling, the inventor of the gun with revolving rifle 
barrels, mounted on wheels and known as the "Gatling 
Gun," was a member of the Order. He testified also 
that Bowles was in Louisville, Ky., in June, 1S64, 
superintending the Greek Fire arrangement, which was 
invented by R. C. Bockmg, a German or Belgian of 
Cincinnati, a Captain of Artillery U. S. Volunteers. 
The Order was to use this Greek Fire for destroying 
Government property. Both Dodd and Bowles told 
Stidger that the Order "American Knights" was 
formed for opposing the United States Government in 
every possible way by force of arms, and expected to 
co-operate with the rebel forces. At Louisville Bowles 
was present at the experiments with the Greek Fire, 
and Bocking explained the hand grenades and machine 
for destroying boats and Government buildings, saying 
that it will set these on fire at a given time, something 
on the principle of a clock, and wound up for the time 
designated, when it will surely fire the boat or building 
in which it may be left. The machine, put into a box 
or trunk, might be left without exciting suspicion. 

Bowles told Stidger that two boats, laden with Gov- 
ernment stores, were destroyed at a wharf in Louisville 
by Greek Fire, and that there had been fires before 
caused by Greek Fire, operated by the Order. Stidger 



DURING THE WAR. 59 

testified that he received from Dodd the whole pro- 
g^ramme of the uprising of the Order, and of the plot 
to seize United States and State arsenals, the liberation 
of prisoners of war, and concentration of members of 
the Order. Witness testified that Judge Bullitt went 
to the session of the Conspirators' vSupreme Council, 
July 20th, in Chicago, and added — "Dodd had been to 
New York, and on the day of his return I learned from 
him that the programme concerning the uprising had 
all been decided upon. He told me to engage twenty 
or thirty good runners, who would notify the Order, 
and have them ready when Judge Bullitt got back. I 
saw Bullitt on the train. He told me the programme 
was all arranged. He gave me the nam.es of W. R. 
Thomas, Jailor at Louisville, and other persons to send 
to him, and to them he would impart the programme. 
Before seeing them, Judge Bullitt was arrested and 
sent to Fort Lafayette. . Dodd told me the plan agreed 
upon in Chicago; and said they were to seize Camp 
Morton, Camp Chase, Camp Douglas, and the depot of 
prisoners at Johnson's Island, to seize the arsenals in 
Indianapolis, Springfield and Chicago, and arm the 
released prisoners of war with the w^eapons seized, 
also arm the members of the Order, and organize them 
for the 15th or 16th of August, the day fixed upon for 
the uprising. Each commander was to concentrate his 
forces in Louisville, and they were to have the co-oper- 
ation of Colonel Syphert and Col. Jessee of the South- 
ern army, who were then to capture Louisville, Jeffer- 
sonville and New Albany. The meeting or the Supreme 
Council was called for the first of July but was postponed 



60 THE GREAT TREASON PLOT 

owing to the postponement of the National Democratic 
convention. Dodd was "Grand Commander" of the 
Order in Indiana. Bowles was a "Major General" 
commanding one of the districts of the State. David 
T. Yeakle held the same rank as Bowles, bnt was super- 
seded by Walker; so that Walker and Milligan held 
the same rank as Bowles. Judge Bullitt was Grand 
Commander of the Order in Kentucky. The council 
meeting at Chicago was composed of Grand Command- 
ers and Major Generals. Stidger was informed by 
Piper of Springfield, whom he met in the Grand 
Council of Kentucky, and who was on the staff of Val- 
landigham, the Supreme Commander, that the time 
fixed for the general uprising in Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, 
Missouri and Kentucky was the 3d or 17th of August 
— the date to be positively fixed by Vallandigham. 
His orders were to be obeyed above the orders of any 
other ofiicer." 

Stidger, the witness, examined the roll of names of 
the Order of Indiana for the purpose of pointing out 
those whom he recognized, and singled out the names 
of W. M. Harrison, "Grand Secretary," and Joseph 
Ristine, auditor of the State. He also identified State 
Senator "Hon." Horace Heffren, as Deputy Grand 
Commander of the State. He had formerly been Lt. 
Colonel of an Indiana regiment. He informed Stidger 
that the Order was for the purpose of co-operating 
with the rebels. Piper told the witness that James A. 
Barrett, formerly of St. Louis, later of Chicago, was 
Chief of Staff to Vallandigham, and that Capt. Hines 
of tlie Confederate army, also on Vallandigham's staff 




DEPOT OF 



PRISONEUb UF WAK. JuUNSO^S ISLAND. SANDUSKY BAY. 



62 THE GREAT TREASON PLOT 

— had charge of releasing prisoners of war on John- 
son' Ishmd; that James A. Barrett had a communica- 
tion from VaUandigham and Bowles, giving him 
charge of releasing the prisoners at Rock Island. 
Hines w^as then in Canada waiting for the time to come 
to begin his work at Johnson's Island; later Hines was 
captured wnth Morgan. Stidger, the witness further 
testified — "On the zgth or 30th of June, I saw, at the 
Louisville Hotel, in Bocking's room, a shell, about the 
size of a 33 pounder, of conical shape. The butt of 
the shell, being unscrewed, showed an interior shell 
which contained an iron case for the charge of powder. 
Bocking explained it: "The space between the inner- 
most case and the inner shell w^as to be filled with 
Greek Fire. The space between the inner and outer 
shell was to give room for it to move, so as to explode 
the percussion cap, on its being thrown or striking 
upon any object. This w\as to be used for destroying 
Goveinment property — for the use of these conspira- 
tors, who said it was just the thing they wanted. I 
also saw a spherical shell, which, unscrewed in the 
center, showed a smaller spherical shell inside. Bock- 
ing explained the working of it: The inner shell was 
to be filled with powder, and a cap placed on each of 
the nine nipples, to be seen on its surface; and round a 
glass vial, which this inner shell contained, was placed 
the powder. The glass vial contained the Greek Fire. 
On being thrown and striking on any object, it would 
explode, ignite and set on fire whatever it touched. It 
was designed to be used by the hand, and required very 
careful handling to prevent exploding, as it would do 
from the slisfhtest blow. 



DURING THE WAR. 63 

I was told by Dr. Bowles that the Greek Fire had 
been used for the destruction of Government property ; 
that two boats had been destroyed at Louisville, and a 
number of boats down the river, by the same means, 
in April and May. Bockino^ explained the manner in 
which the Greek fire could be used outside of the shells. 
It might be kept in a thin glass vial, and when one 
wanted to destroy an object, all he had to do was to 
throw the vial against it, by which the liquid would be 
scattered about, and it would set on fire anything it 
touched. It might be made to ignite instantly, or some 
time after it was scattered." 

The commands of the chiefs of the Order were to 
be above the commands of all others, and above all 
laws of the United States, in fact supreme. It was 
resolved by the Conspirators to assassinate U. S. detec- 
tive Coffin, and Stidger was sent from Louisville to 
give Dodd and Bowles the opinion of Judge (Grand 
Commander) Bullitt, which was that it was necessary 
for the interests of the Order, that Coffin should be put 
out of the way. Dr. Gatling was present at the Grand 
Council when the discussion occurred concerning the 
assassination of Coffin. The witness further testified 
that Piper professed to have official orders of military 
character from Vallandigham, and that Vallandigham 
had knowledge of the insurrectionary movement and 
sanctioned it, had supreme control of it, and the day of 
the uprising was at his discretion; and that he approved 
the action of the Supreme Council held in Chicago. 

Joseph Kirkpatrick, of Park Place, New York, 
dealer in fire arms, testified that he sold 290 pistols to 



fi4 THE GREAT TREASON PLOT 

"L. llanis," and contiacted to sell liiin 2,500 revolvers 
and 135,000 pistol cartridges; Ihat later he saw these 
arms at the arsenal near Indianapolis; in the same boxes 
in which they were packed in New York, and marked 
"J.J. Parsons, Indianapolis, Indiana. Harris marked 
them himself, in the j^resence of Kirkpatrick, paid for 
the arms, and gave the impression that the weapons 
were to be shipped to the California market. 

William Clayton, of Warren County, Illinois, testi- 
fied that assessments were made upon the Order for the 
purchase of arms, which were to come from Nassau to 
Canada and thence to the Order. He corroborated the 
former evidence that all commands affecting the Order 
were to proceed from C. L. Vallandigham, "Supreme 
Commander." The next highest officer in command, 
according to the witness, was Robert Holloway of 
Mercer County, Illinois. 

Wesley Tranter of Martin County, Indiana, formerly 
a soldier of the 17th Indiana Volunteers, who was with 
Sherman's army, testified that he joined the Order of 
the "Circle of Honor," ["American Knights" under 
another name] at the sohcitation of Stephen Horsey of 
Martin County; that they swore to support the cause 
of the Confederacy "north or south, at all hazards," and 
that if they "revealed the secrets of the order, they 
were to have their hearts torn out, and bodies cut into 
pieces," etc. It was said in the Order, that "H. H. 
Dodd was to be Governor |of the State, in place of 
Morton, who was to be put out of the way." 

The witness added, "It was said we must have our 
old rifles and shot guns fixed up as best we could, and 




CAMP MORTON NEAR INDIANAPOLIS. IND. 



66 THE GREAT TREASON PLOT 

that we would have revolvers shipped to us. Two 
boxes of revolvers came, marked as "jewelry" so I was 
told by Stephen Horsey. The Indianians w^ere to seize 
Indianapolis and the arsenal, and distribute the arms to 
members of the Order. At the same meeting, it was 
said Morton was to be put out of the way, that he had 
but a short time to live after the visit to the arsenal. I 
left the Order because its principles did not suit me. It 
was recognized as " Knights of the Golden Circle." 
Dr. Bowles was to be our General, to lead us South, 
but I was not alarmed at the prospect of serving under 
Bowles. I knew he w^ould run if there was danger, as 
he did in Mexico, and that we would be safe. 

The witness withdrew from the Order and disclosed 
its designs to Capt. Henley, by whom the statement 
was sent to Gen. Carrington. 

The prisoner Harrison H. Dodd, escaped from prison, 
at this stage of his trial, and was never recaptured. 
The following extract from the report of Col. A. J. 
Warner, Commander of the Post Indianapolis, to Capt. 
A. C. Kemper A. A. G., gives all the particulars known 
of the escape of H. H. Dodd, on the morning of Octo- 
ber 7th, 1864: 

"Harrison H. Dodd, who was on trial in this city 
before the Military Commission, on a charge of treason 
and conspiracy, made his escape from the room occupied 
by him in the third story of the Postoffice building, a 
few minutes before 4 o'clock this morning. He es- 
caped through the w^indow, opening on Pennsylvania 
street, by means of a rope, attached to an iron rod, 
which was held fast between his bed and the iron win- 
dow-shutter. 



DURING THE WAR. 67 

A ball of twine hud been conveyed to him by some 
of his friends who had been permitted to visit him, by 
means of which, he had drawn up to his window a 
large rope, furnished bv some persons outside.^ who 
assisted in his escape. There was no guard on the out- 
side of the building, and the attempt was not detected, 
until the prisoner had reached the ground and escaped. 
The street lamps near by had been previously darkened, 
to conceal the movement. 

When Mr. Dodd petitioned Brevet Major General 
Hovey, Commander of the District, to be allowed to 
occupy a room in the PostofMce building, instead of be- 
ing closely confined in the Military prison, he gave his 
parole of honor that he would make no attempt to 
escape. His brother, also, pledged his word, and stated 
he would risk all he was worth, that H. H. Dodd would 
not try to escape, if this privilege were granted. Meas- 
ures, therefore, that would have been taken to prevent 
escape by placing guards on the outside as well as with- 
in the building, were not under the circumstances re- 
sorted to in this case." 

H. H. DODD HEARD FROM. 

The following letter from H. H. Dodd was received 
nearly two months after his escape: 

Windsor, C. W., Nov. 23, 1S64. 
Editors of the Cincinnati Enquirer, 

Gentlemen : 
"In your issues of yesterday, in an editorial article, I 
notice the following language: " By the way, it w^ould 
be instructive to learn where the money came from with 



68 THE GREAT TREASON PLOT 

which Mr. Dodd's pistols were purchased; and further- 
more how Mr. Dodd — crowded as Indiana is with spies 
and secret poHcemen, every one of whom knew him, 
or had his portrait in possession — contrived to escape to 
Canada, with his pockets full of the effigies of the 
President and Secretary of the Treasury." 

The only force and effect of which is to convey the 
idea that I have been dieting in the interest of the 
Administration party, and have been paid for my ser- 
vices, and allowed to escape through their instrumen- 
tality. This unfounded assault upon my character, orig- 
inated with some irresponsible correspondent of the 
Chicago Thnes^ at Indianapolis, and which has since 
been made the basis of editorial comment in the Seiiti- 
ficl and Enquire}'^ and thus, intentionally or otherwise, 
you are giving crerlence and publicity to the " com- 
pliclty vjith JSIorton^'' dodge, gotten up by a coterie of 
" Sons," who have seen fit to take the benefit of the 
" baby act." 

I certainly ha\e no objection to 3-our whipping your 
abolition contemporaries, or to your censuring and con- 
demning the men in power, or their measures; but I 
must enter my solemn protest against the use of my 
sore back as a medium to do the one or the other. 
Neither do I complain of comments upon my public or 
private acts, political principles, combinations or associa- 
tions, as against abolitionism, terrorism, despotism, 
usurpation, oppression and military dictation; nor upon 
any sins of commission or omission in this direction. I 
am ready to hear " charges and specifications," of at- 
tempted assassinations, of estimates upon my ability, 



DURING THE WAR. 69 

intentions or purposes, and this sort of thing; make me 
out an enemy to society from either weakness or ambi- 
tion ; call me a revolutionist, or what not, I am willing 
to leave to time to prove that " the worst enc?7iy to the 
peace oj ma7zki?id is he who renders a revolution neces- 
sary!'^ But to charge me with being a '-^ spy and in- 
former^'' that I would become a decoy to lure unsuspect- 
ing associates into the boiling cauldron of "crime, hat- 
red and malice," all for the "effigies of the President 
and Secretary of the Treasury," is to charge me with a 
heinous crime against mankind, that I cannot permit to 
be laid at my door — and I may not remain silent, when 
the editor of the Enqiiirer^ from personal knowledge 
knows me incapable of playing such a role. 

Do you wish sincerely to know m regard to the 
pistols? You will recollect that a gentleman in New 
York claimed them as his individual property, and by 
reference to. my card, published on the 5th day of Sep- 
tember last, you will find further explanation as to my 
connection with said pistols. It was not then considered 
e\'en a crime by Democratic journals to buy and sell, 
or to keep and bear arms. The amount involved was 
not so large as to raise the inquiry — " Where the money 
came from .'^" 

My escape was no great exploit; not sufficiently so, 
at least, to raise the question of "How was it contrived?" 
A little affair of this sort could be managed as well as 
the purchase of a few hundred pistols, without the 
intervention of the Government or any of its agents. 
You do me a great injustice when you speak of me as 
some notorious criminal, personally known to all thief- 



70 THE GliBAT TREASON PLOT 

catchers, and whose picture every detective in the 
country carried about with liim The fact that I have 
safely arrived in a country where the "majesty of the 
law" is respected, full)' proves the contrary; for how 
lould I pass tlirough a perfect forest of detectives, 
secret policemen, spies, soldiers in uniform, soldiers in 
citizens' dress — in female attire, dressed as hod carriers, 
as peddlers, as white washers, teamsters, wood-choppers, 
spread all through the county of Marion and adjoining 
counties, swarming in the cities of Indianapolis, Cincm- 
nati, Cloxeland, Toledo and Detroit, and upon ever}^ 
railway train; yet simply because I was unknown to 
them, and because they did not have my picture in their 
pockets, I passed through them all unnoticed. 

It is no longer necessary to attack my honor, to 
proN'e the Democratic "leaders'' in no way connected 
with ihe "Dodd Conspiracy." They are no more 
responsible for my acts, than I am for theirs, and I am 
pei-fectly willing that the acts of some of them, in this 
case, should be the standard, if the rest of them will 
assent. 

But the simple object of this note, however, was to 
have 3^ou give my denial to the charge of "complicity 
with Morton." This is all I ask, so that the Demo- 
cratic masses can see it over my own signature. I care 
not who avers it. I am satisfied to risk the question of 
veracity. If you are incredulous, just inquire of Major 
Burnett, General Ilovey or Colonel Warner, and me- 
thinks the energetic replies will be entirely satisfactory. 
It may be that 1 committed an error in abandoning the 
"Commission." Be that as it ma}', I regret exceedingly 



DURING THE WAR. 71 

to have made any plea, either to the jurisdiction or to 
the indictment, or to have, in any manner, recognized 
the tribunal. The charge that I violated a parole is, 
like all the rest, utterly false. I was in solitary confine- 
ment every moment from the time of my arrest until 
the escape. 

Respectfully Yours, etc. 

H. H. DoDD." 




HON. O. P. MORTON, WAR GOVERNOR OF INDIANA. 



DURING THE WAR. 7, 



CHAPTER V. 

Balepui. Influence of Political wSecret Soci- 
eties — A Government Detective — Trial of 
other leading conspirators — Vallandigham's 
Return to Ohio — The halter a preamble 
TO A platform — Lincoln's Spies — The rkvoi.i- 
tionary scheme. 

Mr. M. M. Ray, the able counsel for H. H. Dodd, 
in his aro^ument in reply to the Judge Advocate's mo- 
tion that the Commission proceed to the finding and 
sentence of the escaped prisoner, made use of the fol- 
lowing language: — 

"In approaching the evidence of the case, we arc al- 
most subdued and awed into silence, by considering tlie 
perilous precipice on which society in the Northwest so 



74 THE GREAT TREASON PLOT 

lately hungr, if the testimony in the plenitude of its de- 
tails, or even in its general scope, is to be believed. We 
do not feel called upon, as counsel for the defendant, to 
apologize for these or any other secret political organi- 
zations, and especially in revolutionary times like these. 
But we do feel called upon as a mark of respect to this 
court, and in the interest of a common country, to place 
on record our unqualified reprobation of all secret poli- 
tical orders, by whatever name or party afiiliation, as, at 
best, but pestilential hotbeds for the most incendiary 
political heresies, leading to the worst fruits of Jacobin- 
ism. It is in vain for the purest and wisest patriot to 
offer words of truth and patriotism to the people, if 
they conflict w^ith the decrees of a secret, irresponsible, 
bloody tribunal. Through the machinery of secret or- 
ganizations, the worthless and irresponsible place-hunt- 
ers come to the top, get the popular ear, and have more 
weight and influence in directing the popular mind, 
than all the lessons of history or the appeals of our 
most learned, independent, unselfish and trusted public 
men. Who then that has had the sagacity to detect 
the baleful influence of secret societies in the whole 
political atmosphere for two years past, can find any 
apology or palliation for them ? We offer none." 



Gen. Burnett, Judge Advocate of the Commission, in 
his powerful, logical and eloquent argument, thus re- 
ferred to F. G. Stidger, the witness: " I wish to say 
one word with respect to the testimony of the witness 
Stidger. No member of this Commission, and I think 
I may say that no person sat in this hall who did not 



DURING THE WAR. 75 

believe that the witness testified to the truih. True, he- 
was a Government detective, but such a work can ])e 
engaged in and accompHshed with a good intent nnd 
purpose. It is a species of strategy fully justilicd l)y 
the circumstances of the case, and is not unlike that to 
which our commanding Generals in the field often re- 
sort, in their efforts to deceive the enemv. They send 
false messages, write and forward false missives, on 
purpose to mislead them. They employ every means 
in their power to induce them to believe in and relv 
upon a certain state of things the opposite of that which 
really exists. Stidger engaged in the woi'k of reveal- 
inof the desio-ns of this treasonable or<ranizati()n, with 
the express purpose of giving information to the Gov- 
ernment and saving bloodshed, and possibly National 
disaster. In such a cause, every man, loyal and true to 
his Government, will stand by him; and it ill hccotucs 
any man to %vithhold that meed of praise zvhich is his 
due for the services rendered the Government^'' 

October 21st, 1S64, a Mihtary Commission convened 
in Indianapolis, Indiana, proceeded to the joint trial of 
William A. Bowles, Andrew Humphreys, Horace 
Heffren, Lambdin P. Milligan and Stephen Horsey, all 
of Indiana, on the charges of conspiracy against the 
Government of the United States; affording aid and 
comfort to Rebels against the authority of the L nited 
States; inciting insurrection; disloyal practices; and vio- 
lation of the laws of war. 

William M. Harrison testified that he was ^''-"'^J 
Secretary of the Grand Council "American Knights." 
The first knowledge he had of the Order was at Tcnc 



76 THE GREAT TREASON PLOT 

Haute, Indiana, by invitation of H. H. Dodd. P. C. 
Wright had charge of the meeting. On the loth of 
September, at a meeting of the Grand Council in In- 
dianapoHs, Dr. Bowles was initiated. At that meeting 
H. H. Dodd was elected Grand Commander, and wit- 
ness was elected Grand vSecretary. Witness testified 
that he destroyed all the papers of the organization after 
the exposition of the Order in the Indianapolis y on rj/al; 
that the military bill so destroyed provided for the di- 
vision of the State into four districts, the " Northeast- 
ern," "Northwestern," " Southeastern," and "South- 
western," for the organization of the whole military 
force, number and size of regiments, duties of officers, 
etc. A regiment was to consist of nine companies of 
infantry, one company of rifles, and one section of ar- 
tillery. 

The bill provided for election of Major Generals, 
and Major Generals should appoint Brigadiers, the 
Brigadiers appoint Colonels, Colonels appoint Captains, 
and Captains the subordinate officers. David T. Yeakle 
and Andrew Humphreys, Lambdin P. Milligan, Mr. 
Conklin and William A. Bowles were appointed Major 
Generals. Another meeting of the Council was held 
in November, Harrison H. Dodd presiding; W. H. 
Harrison, Grand Secretary; present L. Milligan, J. J. 
Bingham, Dr. Bowles and delegates from thirty counties. 

The next meeting of this Council was held in Indian- 
apolis, the i6th or 17th of February, 1864; present Hor- 
ace Heffren, perhaps L. P. Milligan and Dr. Bowles. 
Heffren and Bowles made speeches. At that meeting 
H. H. Dodd was elected Grand Commander, Horace 



DURING THE WAR. j^ 

Heffren, Deputy Grand Commander, and W. II. Har- 
rison Grand Secretary. The election of Major Gener- 
als took place at that meeting. Humphreys and Milji- 
j^an were elected in their districts, Dr. Bowles in the 
Southwest and Walker in the Northwest district. All 
officers were elected yearly. 

At the meeting in September John G. Da\is, I). K. 
Eckles, Milligan, Humphreys and Dodd were elected del- 
egates to the Supreme Council in Chicago. At the re"-- 
ular annual meeting of the Order on the i6th or 17th of 
February, an address was read by Grand Commander 
Dodd, which was subsequently printed in pamphlet 
form and circulated to the members of the Order in 
each county* The name of the Order was changed to 
"Sons of Liberty" by the Supreme Council February 
23nd, 1S64, and this change was made kncnvn to the 
subordinate lodges by a circular from the otHce of the 
Grand Secretary. The Supreme Commander of the 
"Sons of Liberty" exercised control over the "American 
Knights," for it was the same organization with a 
different name. The Grand Commander of Indiana 
was Grand Commander of the "American Knights," 
and exercised the same powers over the "Sons of Lib- 
erty." Persons having taken the obligation of the 
"xAmerican Knights" were not required to re-obligate 
themselves or take the obligation of the "Sons of 
Liberty .'' A large committee of the Grand Council of 
Indiana was appointed to proceed to Hamilton, Ohio, 
on the 15th day of June, the occasion of Mr. Vallan- 



♦Extracts from that address will be found under the headinglof "Treason." 



78 THE GREAT TREASON PLOT 

diokafns retiirn to Ohio. The strength of the Order 
in June, 1S64, according- to the evidence of the Grand 
Secretary, was 15,000, and in September iS,ooo. The 
organization so far as reports had been received existed 
in the counties of Marion, Marshall, Allen, Hunting- 
ton, Laporte, Fulton, Cass, Harrison, Washington, 
Orange, Grant, Madison, Crawford, Posey, Vander- 
burg and Warrick. It was understood that the Order 
\vas better organized in Illinois than in any other State 
in the Union. 

The witness being questioned concerning arms 
received in Indianapolis, replied: " Walker came to 
my house one night and said he wished me to say to 
Parsons that there would be some boxes arrive in a day 
or two which he desired him to take care of . The next 
day I asked Parsons if Dodd had informed him con- 
cerning the boxes; he said he had. In tliree or four 
days I went to Dodd's office and saw on the sidewalk 
five or six boxes addressed "J.J. Parsons, Indianapolis 
Ind." Parsons was getting the boxes into the building 
— on the second floor in a back room. I asked him 
what the boxes contained; he said pistols. Parsons w^as 
a ' Son of Liberty.' Ten boxes were then received and 
tw^enty-two boxes two weeks later. I understood that 
the arms were seized by the authorities." 

THE HALTEK A PREAMBLE TO A PLATFORM. 

A letter of which the following is a copy, dated 
Huntington, May 9th, 1S64, addressed to " Gen. H. H. 
Dodd" and signed " L. P. Milligan " was introduced in 
evidence: 



DURING THE WAR. 79 

"Huntington, Ind., Afay 9th, iSr)|. 

Gen. H. H. Dodd— Dear Sir: Yours of the 2ii(l 
inst. came when I was absent at Notre Dame, and I 
have now just read it, and am unable to make any defi- 
nite reply. I will barely allude to what may afford a 
text for reply in future. As to the Gubernatorial (jiics- 
tion, it may not have occurred to ylu the uncnvial)lc 
connection in which my name has been used. It was 
ajinounced in consequence of the declination of the 
Hon. J. E. McDonald to be a candidate, conccdincr that 
if he was a candidate there was no desire to use my 
name; now I understand he is; hence I am not called 
upon by any public notice to be such. But waiving; all 
this as the result of mere accident, and not proffered as 
an indignity to me, by placing me second in talents and 
patriotism to J. E. McDonald, there is still more grave 
difficulty in the way. The announcement of my name 
for Governor was made by McDonald's friends. Now, 
it is due to them that I should decline, because I could 
not represent them; there is no similarity between us, 
and all this is not so discouraging as the fact that men 
of the stamp of Judge Hanna, whose profession of 
principles I could represent, prefer McDonald on 
account of his supposed availability; it detracts much 
from my confidence in our ultimate success. 

When men of so much seeming patriotism are willing 
for mere temporary purposes to abandon the great prui- 
ciples of civil liberty, what will those of less pretentions 
do, when the real contest comes, when life and property 
all depend on the issue, when bullets instead of ballots 
are cast and when the halter is a prcaffiblc to our 




GEN. H. L. BURNETT, 



Judge Advocate of the Military Commission who tried the Con- 
spirators and Assassins. 



DURING THE WAR. „1 

platform? For unless Federal e^croachmcnt>^ arc 
arrested in the States by the effort as well of the legis- 
lators as the executive, then will our lives and fortunes 
follow where our honors will have gone before. 

I am willing to do whatever the cause of the North- 
west may require, or its true friends may think proper, 
but I am as well convinced that upon mature reHcction 
they will not ask me to obtrude myself upon the pub- 
lic, nor will they ask me to be McDonald's contingent. 
I have great confidence in your good hard man scrisc^ 
and cool judgment, hence I find it difhcult to disregard 
your advice in the matter, and before giving to the 
world my position on the question, I wish to see you 

personally. 

Yours truly, 

L. P. ISIlLLUiAN. 

N. B. My last was confidential; this is more so, 
because I have given vent to feelings that are purely 
private. L. P. Millkjan;' 



The following letter, written by the witness Harrison 
as Grand Secretary, to a Secretary of a County Tern pie 
was admitted as evidence: > 

"Indianapoi-is, Aug. 20, 1864. 
Mr. H. I. Stewart, Boundary, Ind. Dear Sir: 

Yours under date 17th inst. is at hand. Any infor- 
mation that you may desire can be had by sending an 
accredited person here. Written communications arc 
played out, 2ls all letters are opened and read by Lin . 
coin's spies and hirelings during their transmission 

through the mails. 

Yours truly, H. 



82 THE GREAT TREASON PLOT 

Grand Secretary Harrison testified : " I received 
information from Harrison H. Dodd that there was a 
design in progress or in contemplation for the release 
of the prisoners of war confined at this point, at Chi- 
cago and at Rock Island, Ills. That plan had not been 
fully decided on; but if decided on, he was to have 
charge of the release of the prisoners at this point. He 
desired to have a Democratic mass meeting called about 
the 1 6th of August, and used his influence to induce the 
Democratic State Central Committee to call that meet- 
ing. If they did so, he intended to send out circulars to 
the members of the Order in the various counties, auth- 
orizing the members to come up to that meeting armed. 
If the meeting had been held at that time, there would 
have been an uprising. 

He stated this on Friday evening of July 29th, the 
same evening that the yournal bulletin announced an 
expose of the Order for the next morning. This was 
after the Chicago meeting. I understood him that the 
whole plot had been arranged at Chicago. He stated 
that the released prisoners were to aid in the uprising 
here, and that success meant revolution to take place in 
Indiana. The uprising was to take place by the aid of 
the rebel prisoners, who were to be released through 
his instrumentality, and that of the persons who came in 
to the meeting to be held here on the i6th, they were 
to overturn the State government. He said if the thing 
was decided on, he was to surprise the camp and seize 
the arsenal, and, in the confusion and excitement of the 
moment, effect the success of the plan. He thought he 
could do this with about one hundred and fifty men. 



DURING THE WAR. ^3 



The witness gave an exposition of the si 



iins 



1 I-. 



('■'})> 



passwords, etc. The members were instructed that the 
acorn was the universal emblem of the order, repre- 
senting strength, growth and durability. 

The Grand Secretary continued — "From what Dodd 
communicated to me, 1 was impressed that the revolu- 
tionary scheme included Illinois, as well as Indiana, and 
if circumstances favored, the whole organization was to 
participate in it. Dodd was to take charge of the liber- 
ation of prisoners at Camp Morton, near Indianapolis. 
The Military Bill adopted in the Council referred to, 
was introduced in pursuance of injunctions of P. C. 
Wright, at that time Supreme Commander. The Mil- 
itary bill was in Dodd's hand-writing. I saw Humph- 
reys at the meeting of the Council June 14th. It con- 
vened in the Marion County Temple, in the fourth 
story of Dodd's building. 

Wesley Tranter, a witness for the Government, testi- 
fied — "I saw Stephen Horsey at a meeting of the 
Order— was initiated by him. I was at a meeting of 
"Knights of the Golden Circle" where something was 
said about putting Morton out of the way. A man 
who signed himself "M. D." was to pay Governor 
Morton a visit about the 26th or 27th of March and he 
was to live but a short time afterguard . There was to 
be a raid on this place by the members of the Order 
about the 6th of April; we were to arm ourselves and 
beready; we wereto take this place and release the 
prisoners; we were to go at the "blue coats." It was 
said that when we made the raid on this place, the 
Order in IlHnois were to make a raid on Springfield, and 



84 THE GREA.T TREASON PLOT 

thoSe in Missouri on St. Louis. Washington was to 
be attacked, and Forrest was to make a dash into Ken- 
tucky. In case Governor Morton was assassinated, H. 
H.Dodd was to succeed him, according to what was said 
at the meeting. 

Joseph J. Bingham, a witness for the Government, 
testified as follows: — ^"Am editor of the Daily ami 
Weekly Iiidiaua State Sentuicl\ I joined the "Ameri- 
can Knights" in October, 1S63, in the Military Hall on 
Washington street; the hall was leased by the Demo- 
cratic Club of this citv, and it is my impression it was 
under their control at the time. I joined the order at 
the solicitation of Dodd, who said it was political but 
not partizan, and was to sympathize with the principles 
of the Democratic party. Dodd informed me that he 
had appointed me a delegate to the State Council, 
which was to meet in November, 1863. I attended, 
and took what they called a Council degree. Dodd 
presided and Harrison was Secretary. I saw there Mr. 
Ristine and Mr. Milligan the accused. About the znd 
or 3rd of August Mr. Dodd said to me that it had been 
determined, at a meeting or Council, and that arrange- 
ments had been made to release the prisoners on John- 
son's Island; at Camp Chace, near Columbus, Ohio; at 
Camp Morton and also at Camp Douglas, and that the 
prisoners at Camp Douglas were then to go over and 
release those at Rock Island. At the same time, there 
was to be an uprising at Louisville, at which the Gov- 
ernment stores, etc., were to be seized. I looked at the 
man in astonishment. I thought it was a wild dream; 
I could not believe it possible. I studied a moment 



SONS OF LIBERTY ARISE! THE GRAND COMMANDKK CcMIN.. Ih'WN 



86 THE GREAT TREASON PLOT 

and said — "Mr. Dodd, do you know what you are 
going to undertake? Do you know the position of 
military affairs here at this post? Do you think you 
can accomplish this scheme with any number of un- 
armed and undisciplined men you can bring here? He 
said I was the only person he had communicated this to 
in the city. I asked — "how is this revolution to take 
place and nobody know anything about it?" 

Witness then testified to a meeting on the street with 
Michael C. Kerr who said, "the devil's to pay in our 
section of the State; and people of Washington, Har- 
rison and Flovd counties and that neighborhood had 
got the idea that a revolution was impending. The 
lai mers were frightened and were selling their hay in 
the fields and their wheat in the stacks, and all the 
property that could be, was being converted into green- 
backs." 

He then told me just what Dodd had before told me. 
He went over the whole scheme. I went with him to 
Mr. McDonald's and Kerr told the same story he had 
told me. Kerr told me that Gov. Morton was to be 
captured or taken prisoner, and that Dr. Athon was to be 
Provisional Governor, and this was part of the scheme. 
Wc went to Dr. Athon's house after 12 o'clock and 
called him up and told him what Kerr had said. 

The next day we went to McDonald's office, where 
many persons were assembled, and to them Mr. Kerr 
told the story; and the meeting came to the conclusion 
that the matter must be stopped right then. After a 
while Dodd and John C. Walker came in. This meet- 
ing occurred on Friday, August 5th. Mr. Kerr made 



DURING THE WAR. 87 

a speech, saying that he came up to put a stop to the 
thing, and that it was our duty to stop it; and I coin- 
cided. 

Col. Walker and Dodd did not acknowledge at that 
interview, that any such scheme was entertained. Both 
made earnest speeches and used these arguments — 
" that the Government could not be restored again 
under the old state of things without a forcible revolu- 
tion; that an appeal to the ballot box was all folly; that 
the people were prepared for revolution ; that they would 
not submit to the draft; and that it was better to diiect 
the revolution, than to have the revolution direct us. 
They assured us that we need have no further appre- 
hensions about the matter, and we rested content with 
that. I was satisfied that the authorities knew as much 
of the matter as I did. The signal of the uprising at 
Louisville was to be the notice of a barbecue to take 
place in the neighborhood of Louisville. It was under- 
stood that the uprising was to take place on the diiy 
announced for the barbecue. Mr. Kerr informed us, 
in the interview with McDonald, that Judge Bullitt had 
that day or the day previous been arrested." " We 
had then called the Democratic State Central Com- 
mittee to meet on the 17th of August," continued the 
witness; " I regard this matter as most important in its 
effect upon the Democratic party, and that was a reason 
why I did not wish to say anything about it, for if this 
thing had been made public, it would injure us in the 
coming election ; the charge would be made that the 
Democratic party was a revolutionary party, and we 
would have been saddled with the sins of these men. 



88 THE GREATiTREASON PLOT 

Col. Walker was present at the State Central Com- 
mittee meeting, and assured the Committee that nothing 
of the kind should take place. I met Col. Walker on 
the street; he said he was going to the Bates house to 
meet gentlemen by appointment— -I understood him to 
say they were rebel officers; who were on their way to 
Chicago to take charge of the rebel prisoners when 
released from Camp Douglas; that it was necessary he 
should see them and tell them the whole scheme was 
stopped. He met me afterward, and said he had seen 
them, and they had gone on and stopped all operations 
at that time, for the release of the prisoners." The wit- 
ness added — " Dodd desired me to call a mass meeting 
of the Democracy, and under cover of that meeting he 
could accomplish his ends by revolution." 




WILLIAM A. BOWLES, COLONEL OF INDIANA CONSPIRATORS. 



90 THE GREAT TREASON PLOT 



CHAPTER VI. 
A Government Detective tells his story — H. 
H. DoDD wishes to go ahead — Order for 

THOUSANDS OF LANCES A NEW WAY OF NUMBER- 
ING — Capture of arms. 

Felix G. Stidger, of Mattoon, Illinois, of the 15th 
Kentucky, in the army corps of Gen. Thomas, was 
called as a witness and testified: — Dr. Bowles gave me 
the name of a Mr. Holloway, and said he was the only 
man in Illinois that he could put his finger on with re- 
liability. He said the forces of Indiana would concen- 
trate in Kentucky, and make that state their battle 
ground; that the forces in Illinois would concentrate in 
St. Louis, and co-operate with the forces in Missouri; 
that Illinois would furnish 50,000 men, Missouri 30,000 
and Price was to invade the State with 20,000 men; 
with the 100,000 men they were to hold and perma- 
nently occupy that state, and the troops of Indiana and 
Ohio concentrate at Louisville. I learned from him 



DURING THE WAR. 91 

that this organization was to act in conjunction with the 
rebel forces. On my way to Dr. Bowles, I stopped at 
Salem to see Heffren; he said he and Dodd would call 
a meeting of the organization between the 13th and 
1 6th of June; and that the Order in the State was about 
complete; that it numbered between 75,000 and 80,000 
men. 

About the 2nd of August, Dodd gave me the pro- 
gramme, and impressed upon me the importance of se- 
crecy. He said a meeting would be held in Indianapo- 
lis on the 15th or i6th of August, and that his men 
would be instructed to come armed; that they were go- 
ing to work to release the prisoners here and seize the 
arsenal here, at Springfield and Chicago, Illinois, and 
Columbus, Ohio, on the same day, and to release the 
prisoners at Johnson's Island, and Camp Chace, Ohio, 
Camp Douglas and Rock Island, Illinois, then proceed 
to Louisville, and take possession of the arsenal there, 
and at Frankfort, Kentucky, and, with the rebel prison- 
ers armed, they would go to work. Their difference 
at Chicago was whether they should wait until the 
rebel forces should be sent into Eastern Kentucky to 
co-operate with them, or to make their uprising at 
once, and co-operate with the rebel forces when Davis 
could send them. Dodd's idea was to go ahead on the 
T5th or 1 6th of August. I do not know why the in- 
surrection was put off. There was communication be- 
tween this Order and the guerrillas in Kentucky. 
Bowles said he would consent to the uprising on the 
15th or 1 6th of August, as Dodd had said, provided 
Col. Syphert, Col. Jesse and Walker Taylor would as- 



92 THE GREAT TREASON PLOT 

sist in the capture of Louisville, until the forces (Sons 
of Liberty) of the State could get there. 

Dr. Bowles asked me if 1 could have three or four 
thousand lances made. He wanted that number, and 
thought they could be made in Kentucky, without sus- 
picion. He wanted three or four thousand men armed 
with lances and revolvers, as he could make them of 
great service. Bowles told me that he had spent $2,000 
for the Order, and would spend all he had, if neces- 
sary. He told me he cared nothing about the election; 
he was satisfied Lincoln would be elected, and he 
wanted the time spent in perfecting the organization 
and getting ready for the uprising. Bocking is a for- 
eigner. Bowles and others were present when Bock- 
ing explained his Greek fire. The murder of Coffin 
was discussed in open Council. Bowles participated in 
it. There was not a dissenting voice with respect to 
the murder of Coffin at that, or any other time. 1 sent 
warning to Coffin of their purpose to assassinate him." 

"The Order had a means of ascertaining the number 
of arms possessed by the members, by having returns 
made by the County Temples, under the guise of a sub- 
scription list for certain Democratic papers. For in- 
stance, a person pretending to subscribe for the Cincin- 
nati Enquirer^ meant that he had a revolver; for the 
Chicago Times^ that he had a shotgun; for the Louis- 
ville Democrat^ that he had a rifle; and under the head 
of Miscellaneous would be indicated the amount of am- 
munition he had on hand. Thus the matter was kept a 
secret from those who were not acquainted with the 
plan." 



DURING THE WAR. 93 

Col. A. J. Warner, Colonel of the 17th V. R. C. and 
Commander of the Post at Indianapolis, testified — 
"about the 20th of i\ugiist, I received information that 
a lot of arms had been shipped secretly to this place. I 
ordered the Provost Marshal of the Post to seize the 
arms, and arrest the parties connected with the transac- 
tion. From the time I first heard of the shipment, to 
the time the Provost Marshal reached the depot with 
wagons, etc., the arms had been removed to the old 
''' SentincV^ building. That night twenty-six boxes of 
arms and ammunition were taken. The boxes were 
shipped to "J. J. Parsons," and on the way-bill were 
marked " stationery." On some of them were marks 
indicating that they were Sunday School books or 
tracts. Twenty-four boxes contained fixed ammuni- 
tion for large sized revolvers; the balance contained 
large revolvers — self-cocking and the largest I have 
ever seen. The arms and ammunition were deposited 
in the United States Arsenal. There were between 
350 and 400 revolvers. On Sunday morning, I made a 
thorough search, and found, secreted in the room oc- 
cupied by H. H. Dodd, under books, etc., six more 
boxes— in all 32 boxes. The six boxes contained arms 
and ammunition, like those taken Saturday night, a 
stamping-press, and two bushels or more of rituals, etc.; 
also a roll of the city members, etc. The following letter 
was found in the office of Dodd: 

Windsor, Canada W., May 12, 1864. 
Dear Sir: Am waiting to hear from you at Day- 
ton as to time of the District Convention. No 
announcement yet. Will give you notice immediately. 



94 THE GREAT TREASON PLOT 

1^^ Send for your friend here to return at once, and 
work at home. Nothing to do here. So, also, says 
our mutual friend. Be ready for Dayton meeting. 
Grant has been worsted by Lee, and no mistake. It is 
Grant who has fallen back six or eight miles, and not 
L. who has advanced from west to east. L; is not, and 
never has been, facing northward, but eastward. 

Truly, 

C. L. V. 

Sherman, too, has been brought to a dead stand, first 
having been driven back." 



DURING THE WAR. 95 



CHAPTER VII. 

Ex-State Senator Heffren as State's evi- 
dence — The "Committee of Ten" to assassi- 
nate Gov. Morton — Threats to assassinate 
THE witness — Went down to Hezekiah's and 
took a drink. 

Col. Horace Heffren, Salem, Washington County, 
Indiana, one of the accused, was released from arrest; 
proceedings against him were withdrawn, and he was 
called as a witness; but his evidence disclosed few new 
facts of importance or interest. He related certain 
information he had received from Dr. Wilson corrobor- 
ative of former evidence in relation to the seizure of 
camps and arsenals, and the assassination of Morton. 
He testified that Dr. James B. Wilson was Adj. Gen. 
on Bowles' staff, Garrett W. Logan of Salem, Monroe 



96 THE GREAT TREASON PLOT 

township, Washington County, Indiana, was Quarter- 
master. Dr. Wilson told the witness that Bowles had 
arranged to have nine companies of infantry, one of 
lancers, and one section of artillery to comprise each 
regiment of the Order. The lancers were- to be armed 
with lances having a hook somewhat like a sickle, — 
the lance to thrust with, and the sickle to cut the horse's 
bridle — a thrust for the man, and a cut for the horse's 
bridle. By this appliance the enemy would become 
confused and if a charge were made upon them, they 
could not control their horses, and would fall easy vic- 
tims. He explained the secret Cypher used by the 
Order by saying — it would be first understood what book 
one would write from; the writer would make the date, 
and place beneath it in parenthesis, the number of the 
page, and the figure at the left of the line would donate 
the line on which the writer began; thus, if it was 15, 
it would signify the 15th line from the top; the number 
of the page would be on the right in parenthesis, — the 
number of the line on the left. If the writer could not 
find the letter wanted, on that page, a line was left 
blank, and another number was made to donate the page 
to which reference is made, etc. William P. Green of 
Salem, Indiana, started to go to the meeting of the 
Supreme Council in Chicago in July 1S64, in lieu of 
the witness who was a delegate by virtue of his ofiice 
of Deputy Grand Commander; but the substitute did 
not get into the Council. Witness did not learn the 
names of the men comprising the " Committee of Ten" 
who were to take care of Gov. Morton; the " Ten " 
were to be selected by the " Committee of Thirteen," 



DURING THE WAR. 97 

and were only known to the Grand Council and to the 
" Committee of Thirteen;" the " Committee of Ten " 
were to hold Gov. Morton as a hostage for prisoners 
taken or to make way with him in some way to the 
witness unknown. 

The property of members of the Order was to be 
saved in case of invasion by the Southern forces, by 
display of a flag upon the property; the flag was to be 
white, with a red ribbon along the flag w^here attached 
to the staff, down each side of the staff and a few inches 
below, making red, white and red. The raid was 
expected the i6th of August; one reason of its failure 
to occur was because the army of the confederacy did 
not come up through Cumberland Gap, as it was under- 
stood would be done. The witness added. Dr. Wilson 
said Dr. Bowles' man had gone to see Price, and 
another had gone to Richmond, to arrange for troops 
to come through Cumberland Gap, but these men failed 
to return in time. The direct tax upon the members 
ostensibly for establishing a 'university,' or 'news- 
paper,' was really for the purchase of arms and ammu- 
nition. 

The witness stated that since he had been called to 
the stand as a witness, he had not staid at home for a 
night, as threats had been made by the Order to hang 
him. When witness was in prison, Horsey told him and 
Humphreys where he hid his buckshot, caps and powder; 
" some of it was hid in a manger, under the horse's feed; 
the caps were hid in a barrel and other portions were 
hid in a stable, and upon the plates in the corncrib; a 
man-carried off much of it and the powder was hid in 



98 THE GREAT TREASON PLOT 

barrels in his house. Four hundred pounds of lead 
was hid in different places, some of it left with one 
man, and another man helped to pack some of the 
powder across the river. The quantity of ammunition 
hid included four hundred pounds of lead, several 
thousand musket caps, and some six or seven kegs of 
powder. 

Both the witness Heffren and Humphreys wished 
Horsey taken from their cell as they did not wish to 
associate with him, and so wrote Colonel Warner. 
Witness testified that by urgent request, after Dodd was 
arrested, he wrote Humphreys, Milligan, John C. 
Walker and Mr. Vallandigham. Mr. Milligan and 
Humphreys replied; the former was sick; in answer to 
a question the witness replied, " he did not say anything 
in his reply about the salvation of God; I did not think 
it was near any of us at that time." [It appeared from 
the evidence that a long time before this letter writing, 
Heffren had resolved to have nothing to do with the 
Order, and that he and Mr. Binghani had resolved to 
"let^the thing grind itself out;" and Heffren had said 
toJMalott and Moss''"the whole'concern was a humbug 
and not worth a damn ;" one of them said " Let's go 
and take a drink on that," and they went down to Heze- 
kiah's and " took a drink," and agreed to have no more 
to do with the Order."] 

"Last Spring," continued the witness Heffren, "com- 
ing to Indianapolis, Humphreys and I met at the 
Greencastle Junction, and had a talk about the Order 
and its organization, and Mr. Humphreys said it would 
not do; he said he was for his country, right or wrong. 



DURING THE WAR. 99 

and for the Constitution as it was, and would have 
nothing to do with the Order. He advised me to quit 
it, and I said I had quit it and would have nothing more 
to do with the Order. I told him about Moss and 
Malott on the 17th of February, and Humphreys said 
he was glad of it. Humphreys said it would not do to 
resist the law. He said they had used his name with- 
out his knowledge or consent. The witness, in answer 
to a question, replied — *if we could not gain a North- 
western Confederacy, we were to join our fortunes with 
the South.' I first knew of the ' Committee of Thir- 
teen' when we were initiated, — twelve beside myself, 
which was emblematical of the thirteen original states, 
and of the thirteen stars on the flag. The ' Committee 
of Thirteen ' belongs exclusively to the Grand Council 
of the State. I did not say the committee appointed 
ten murderers^ but were to select ten men 'to take care 
of Gov. Morton and hold him as a hostage, or, failing 
in that, to 'take care of him,' by which I understand if 
they could not use him they might take him out and 
kill him. "1 did believe these men would do this to 
Gov. Morton, — I had good reasons for believing it. I 
was told by Mr. Dodd and by Dr. Wilson that Vice 
President Stephens had gone to Nassau; that arms and 
ammunition had been shipped there for the Southern 
States, from England, but could not pass the blockade, 
and he went to make arrangements with commissioners 
from the north to have them shipped to Canada and 
thence distributed through the north, for the use of this 
Order. They were to come to Chicago through Can- 
ada. I was told by Becking when in priori that Gv^ek 



100 THE GREAT TREASON PLOT 

fire was made of bi-suiphate of carbon and phosphorus 
and would even burn under water. 

Harrison Connell of Martin County, Indiana, testified 
that by request of Stephen Horsey, he went with him 
down the raih'oad and found some ammunition, put it in 
a sack and carried it home; there was a keg of powder, 
a package of lead and a package of caps; he put it all in 
his barn, in the granary and covered it with oats. 

Elisha Lowgill, of Greencastle, Putnam County, 
Indiana, who was Provost Marshal of the Seventh dis- 
trict, testified that June 4th, 1863, he saw Humphreys 
at the head of about four hundred armed men. Some 
of them swore they would kill any man who attempted 
to enroll Cass township. The enrolling officer was 
Fletcher Freeman; he was shot and killed while in the 
discharge of his duty, ten days after the meeting of 
June 4th. 

Dr. James B. Wilson of Salem, Washington County, 
Indiana, called as a witness, testified concerning the 
meeting of the Supreme Council in Chicago — chiefly 
facts that have already been stated. It was expected 
that Vallandigham and also Amos Green of Illinois 
would both be present, but as Vallandigham did not 
at first come, a messenger was sent to him. Witness 
thought either Green or Holloway was sent to Vallan- 
digham. 

It was understood that at the time of the general 
uprising, Dodd was to be leader in Indiana, and Vallan- 
digham in Ohio. Among the persons present at the 
meeting of the Supreme Council, was Mr. Barrett, Dr. 
Bowles, Mr. Williams and Judge Bullitt, Mr. Piper, 



DURING THE WAR. 101 

Capt. Majors, and Mr. Semmes and Brig. Gen. Charles 
Walsh, both of Chicago, Mr. Hollo way and Mr. Green. 
The uprising was to take place by the command of 
Mr. Dodd; he was to send out couriers to the different 
commanders of the several districts of the State, and 
they were to send out couriers into the respective 
counties, and in like manner into the townships. 

The general signal for the uprising was to be the 
appearance of guerrillas or troops in the vicinity of St. 
Louis and Louisville. The i6th was the day fixed. 
The forces of Southern Indiana were to rendezvous 
some eight miles from New Albany, under Bowles; the 
forces in Illinois at Rock Island, Springfield and Chi- 
cago. 

At the time of the uprising in Indiana, they would 
proceed to Camp Morton; the fences and buildings of 
the Camp would be fired ; the released prisoners would 
participate in the affair and the Federal soldiers could 
be overcome. The released prisoners were to be armed 
with the soldiers' arms, and the soldiers were to be 
held as prisoners of war. While this work was going 
on, a detail was to be sent to take care of the Governor; 
the arsenals were to be seized and the arms distributed 
among- the conspirators. They were then to seize the 
railroad to Jeffersonville, then to proceed to New 
Albany and aid in the capture of Louisville. The 
scheme was known to all members in Washington 
County and in other counties. The witness believed, 
and with reason, that there was a session of the 
Supreme Council in Chicago to w^hich the delegates 
were not all admitted. There were probably two 



102 THE GREAT TREASON PLOT 

hundred persons present at the session of the Supreme 
Council. Witness testified that the first meeting 
was held on Sunday evening, the second on Mon- 
day, Mr. Vallandigham presiding. He presented a 
phitform substantially the same as that adopted at the 
Chicago Democratic Convention. 

The meeting of the organization in Chicago, at which 
Col. Barrett made his proposition for an uprising, was 
on the 2oth of July; the second meeting was on the 29th 
of August. Barrett, who was present at the meeting 
at which Vallandigham presided, made no objection 
to the proceedings on that occasion. Dodd was present 
at the July meeting. Mr. Green of Illinois made a 
speech at the meeting. 

VV. S. Bush, reporter of the Cincinnati Gazette^ was 
called as a witness, and gave evidence concerning a very 
disloyal speech by L. P. Milligan, at a convention 
in Fort Wayne, Indiana, August 13th, 1864. The 
report appeared in full in the Gazette^ August i6th. 
Mr. Milligan was in favor of stopping hostilities and 
allowing the South the terms she asked — to be let alone. 
The draft was expected on the 5th of September, 1864. 
The name of the chairman of the Committee on Reso- 
lutions was O'Rourke. Milligan said among other 
things concerning the war, "while the Government 
had called ovX two million seven hiindred thousand men ^ 
we were not able to make any headway, but the rebels 
were holding their own." 

vSeveral witnesses, called by the accused, testified to 
the good moral character of Mr. Humphreys, and 
regarded him as a law abiding citizen, and that he had 



DURING THE WAR, 108 

not understood the treasonable character of the Order 
until he had become connected with it, and then he 
repudiated the matter and practically withdrew from it. 

The trial closed the first week in December, 1864. 
Gen. Burnett, the Judge Advocate, said in his eloquent 
and able closing argument — "At the time these arrests 
were made, this conspiracy, this intended insurrection 
had jLot been abandoned. As the evidence in this case 
and subsequent events have most clearly shown, the 
Order of the "American Knights" or the "Sons of 
Liberty'' was never juorejlourisking-^ more determined 
and fuore venomous than at that very time.'''' 

The Court found the accused, — William A. Bowles, 
Lambdin P. Milligan and Stephen Horsey, citizens of 
Indiana, guilty of all these charges, and sentenced them 
" to be hanged, at such time and place as the Command- 
ing General of the district should designate." 

The proceedings, findings and sentences of the Com- 
mission, were approved b}' the Commanders, and the 
President of the United States directed that they be 
carried into effect without delay. The Major General 
then issued the following order— 

"Head Quarters District of Indiana, 
Indianapolis, May 9, 1865. 

Col. A.J. Warner, Commanding Post, IndianapoHs, 
Indiana: 

I have just received from the Department Head- 
quarters, an order commanding me to carry into effect, 
" without delay," the sentence of the Military Commis- 
sion, in the cases of William A. Bowles, Lambdin P. 
Milligan and Stephen Horsey. The sentence of each 



104 THE GREAT TREASON PLOT 

is death. A copy of the charges and sentence for each 
of said prisoners is herewith transmitted. 

From the language of my orders, I am compelled to 
fix Friday, the 19th inst. (between the hours of 12 
o'clock M. and 3 o'clock P. M. ) as the most remote 
day within which the same can be properly obeyed. 
You will give the condemned every facility within your 
power, consistent with their safe-keeping, to settle up 
their worldly affairs, and prepare for the future. These 
are sad duties for both of us, and more trying than the 
field of battle, but they are stern duties, that must^^be 
obeyed for our country's safety and future welfare. I 
need not say to you to extend to the families of the con- 
demned any courtesy that you can, consistent with your 
duty as an officer. A man who has served and suffered 
as you have, for your country, can execute justice in 
mercy, though it might cost you tears of blood. With 
a high appreciation of your past services, I am yours 
truly, 

Alvin p. Hovey, 
Brev. Maj. Gen. U. S. V. Comd'g." 

At the close of the war criminal proceedings against 
all conspirators were abandoned, and sentences of the 
conspirators were in all cases annulled. 



DURING THE WAR. 105 



CHAPTER VIII. 

Extraordinary precautions of the Order to 
PRESERVE Secrecy — The most thorough in- 
vestigation BY officers of THE GOVERNMENT 

— Conspirators in the Courts, ProvOst Mar- 
shal's OFFICE, Post Office, Police force, Tel- 
egraph AND Railway offices, etc. — All 
members required to be well armed — 
Ready for offensive operations — The Chi- 
cago Conspirators supplied with firearms 

BOUGHT with THEIR SHARE OF THE " TwO 

Million fund " — Camp Douglas, Chicago — 
Residence of the " Brigadier General " of 
THE Order, but a quarter of a mile from the 
Camp — Thirteen thousand prisoners of war 
INCLUDING Morgan's Men, confined in the 
Camp — Guarded by only five hundred sol- 



106 -THE GREAT TREASON PLOT 

DiERS — Time fixed for the general uprising 
OF the Conspirators. 

With such apparent security and inaction of any ad- 
verse elements of evil in Indiana, we turn to Chicago, 
where no suspicion of hidden danger from hostile men 
was for a moment entertained by the authorities or by 
citizens, even those who had been horrified to learn that 
the Supreme Council of traitors had held a session in 
Chicago July 20th, and all loyal people of the city re- 
joiced that the danger had passed, and that no new 
cause of alarm was in the least liable to occur. 

So well were the treasonable organizations in Chi- 
cago, and all over the North, henceforth guarded, that 
it seemed impossible to learn their purposes, or any fact 
concerning them, — even that they held their meetings, 
and yet temples and councils were rapidly multiplying 
in very many cities and villages. Lists of names of 
police officers, detectives and other officials supposed to 
be inimical and dangerous to the Order, were reported 
at all their meetings, and the following day the names 
and descriptions of such officers were reported to breth- 
ren in other cities and villages. Not a change was 
made on the police force of Chicago, not an increase or 
decrease of Provost guard, not even a change of posi- 
tion of artillery in Camp Douglas, or other Northern 
camp, no change however minute, of interest to the 
traitors, but was promptly reported within their dens 
of treason. 

Their precautions to preserve secrecy were, however, 
unavailing. Although there were not less than five 



DURING THE WAR. 107 

^/wz^sand mQmhers oi the Order, "in good and regular 
standing" in Chicago, so thorough was the investiga- 
tion by officers of the Government, that not only was 
the name of every member of the Order there known, 
as well as his participation in treasonable acts and 
designs, but the sam.e is true of many other localities. 

It was the practice of the "Sons of Libert}^," so far 
as possible, to obtain positions upon the Police force, in 
the Courts, in Railway offices and Telegraph Stations, 
in the office of the Provost Marshal and Post office, 
this for obvious reasons. So well did they carry out 
this policy, that they were represented upon every rail- 
way and telegraph line in Chicago, and one of their 
officers was then a clerk in the office of the Provost 
Marshal of that city. One member of the Illini (Chi- 
cago) temple traveled over the North, wherever he de- 
sired, upon the pass of a Provost Marshal in Indiana, 
his business, being to organize temples of treason in 
the North and West. 

In the Chicago Temple, there were representatives of 
nearly every profession, but the majority of the mem- 
bers were low, ignorant and brutal men, — largely 
foreigners. It was a rule of the Order that its mem- 
bers should all be well armed and skilled in the use of 
weapons. The rapid increase in number and conscious- 
ness of strength, made them openly defiant. They 
talked treason upon the corners of the streets, and 
wherever opportunity offered. A Union disaster was 
always an occasion of great rejoicing among them. 
All were ready for offensive operations, and while they 
were bound to wait till their leaders should give the 



108 THE GREAT TREASON PLOT 

signal for revolution, all were impatient and eager for 
the event. 

During the Summer of 1864, the Grand Seignior, as 
the presiding officer of the Temple was called, gave 
the brethren assembled the — to them — joyful intelli- 
gence, that the pro rata of the two million fund for 
Illinois had been expended for arms, and that these had 
been shipped for their destination, which was Chicago. 
These arms all arrived in due season, and were taken 
in charge by Charles Walsh, "Brig. General" of 
the Conspirators of the "Illini" and others of the 
Order in Chicago and all his precinct. I have described 
the treasonable Order, and now we find its members 
with deadly weapons in their hands, and will learn the 
fiendish purposes which they had fully resolved upon. 
Among other things, the first in order was to liberate 
simultaneously, all the prisoners of war in our Northern 
military prisons. 

At Camp Douglas, Rock Island, Johnson's Island, 
Camp Morton and Camp Chase, at that time — July 
1864 — we held as prisoners of war nearly forty thous- 
and men, and it had been determined by the. conspira- 
tors in council that these prisoners should all be released 
at a certain fixed date. With this nucleus of an army, 
of which Illinois alone would furnish at least eighty 
thousand armed men, Indiana as many more, and Ohio 
a still greater number, such further action would be 
taken as might be expedient, — certainly beginning with 
the pillage and burning of Chicago. 

A glance at Camp Douglas will afford a better idea 
of the designs of the conspirators in relation to that Post. 



DURING THE WAR. 109 

The geographical limits of the command of the Post 
of Chicago — which included Camp Douglas — extended 
to the limits of the Posts North at Madison, Wisconsin, 
Southwest to Rock Island, South to Springfield, and 
East to Detroit, Michigan. Chicago was one of the 
first military depots of supplies in the country. There 
were ten depots in charge of a Colonel, and Chicago 
was one of them. The commandant of Post Chicago 
had jurisdiction over everything pertaining to military 
affairs within the limits — over the command of all 
troops and for the protection of the property of the 
Government and of the people. There were at all 
times on duty in Chicago about sixty men acting as 
provost guards. 

The camp was within the city limits, nearly three 
miles south from the court house, comprising an area 
of sixty or seventy acres, — the Prisoners' Square cover- 
ing about twenty acres. The camp was enclosed by a 
board fence, twelve feet high, made of lumber an inch 
and a quarter in thickness. The boards were placed 
endwise and were nailed from the inside. The outside 
sentinels were stationed on a parapet, three feet from 
the top of the fence, on the outside. The camp was 
more easily assailable from without, and less defensible, 
than if the attack were made from the inside. 

On one side of the camp, and but a few rods distant, 
stood Douglas Universit}', a magnificent building, over- 
looking the entire camp. One hundred, or even fifty 
men, stationed in that building would command Camp 
Douglas, and render it untenable to almost any force, as 
any military man who ever visited the camp will readily 



110 THE GREAT TREASON PLOT 

admit. The residence of the " Brigadier GeneraP' of 
the conspirators was but a quarter of a mile distant 
from the camp. 

Col. B. J. Sweet was commandant of the Post Chi- 
cago during the Summer and Autumn of 1864. During 
the early part of August of that year, the number of 
troops under his command, fit for duty, was from 800 
to 900. The latter part of August, upon information 
of the proposed uprising, given by Col. Ayer, Col. 
Sweet, by urgent request, was reinforced by about 1,200 
men, — comprising four companies, and the 196th Penn- 
sylvania regiment, which numbered 750, all being 
hundred da3's men. They remained but 65 days, leav- 
ing in October. There were thlHeen thousand prison- 
ers in camp up to November, 1864. On the 6th of 
November the entire guard in camp was but Jive 
hundred men, of whom but 250 were on duty at a time. 
Among the prisoners was Morgan's command — a body 
of picked and desperate men. I am thus precise in 
stating the facts, that it may be seen how utterly inade- 
quate was onr force for successfully repelling an attack 
upon the camp by a considerable force of armed men 
from without, aided by the thirteen thousand prisoners 
within. 

At the meeting of the " Supreme Council " of trait- 
ors in Chicago in July, 1864, ^ definite time had been 
fixed upon for the uprising of the Order, not only in 
Chicago, but all over the North. It was decided that 
the treasonable order in Indiana should rendezvous in 
Indianapolis, Evansville, New Albany and Terfe 
Haute; that they should seize the arsenal at Indianapo- 



DURING THE WAR. Ill 

lis, and distribute the arms and ammunition among the 
members of the Order. They also arranged to open 
communication with the Confederate Generals Buckner 
in Kentucky and Price in Missouri, that nothing might 
interrupt the execution of concerted plans, which have 
been stated. 




HON. RICHARD YATES, WAR GOVERNOR OF ILLINOIS, 



DURING THE WAR. 113 



CHAPTER IX. 

Chicago a doomed city — Proposed Carnival 

OF Death — Startling details — The Black 

Flag to be raised — The city to be laid in 

ASHES — Officers, soldiers and prominent 

LOYAL citizens OF ChICAGO TO BE SLAUGHTERED 

-^The Temple of the " Illini " in session 
every week — The Conspirators recruiting 
from the grog-shops and slums of the city 
— The citizens repose in fancied security 

WHILE THE fiendish PLOT IS FESTERING IN THEIR 
midst and a MINE AT THEIR FEET READY TO 

BE SPRUNG — Atrocities about to be perpe- 
trated — Military drill by the^Order^ — Con- 
spirators IN GREAT numbers COMING FROM 
ABROAD TO CHICAGO MAKING READY FOR THE 



114 THE GREAT TREASON PLOT 

UPRISING — Concealed weapons — Brisk trade 
IN fire arms and knives — Incendiary har- 
angue BY THE "Grand Seignior" of the 
"Illini" — Leaders denounce President Lin- 
coln AS "THE Tyrant Abraham the First" 
and the soldiers as "Lincoln's hirelings" 
— Conspirators in their secret depots of 
arms, by night, inspecting their weapons, 
moulding bullets, making cartridges, etc. 

The approach of the Confederate forces toward St. 
Louis, Mo., and Louisville, Ky., was deemed the favor- 
able moment, and time fixed upon for beginning hos- 
tilities in the North. The Conspirators were unani- 
mous in the revolution that of all points to be attacked, 
the first should be Chicago. It was the expressed de- 
sign of the Conspirators to pillage and burn Chicago 
and possess themselves of the treasures of the banks. 
It was arranged that at the time of the uprising, the 
members and friends of the Order should wear badges 
of red and white, and their dwellings should display 
the Confederate Flag, which would msure protection 
to the inmates and owners. Thus were ample and 
definite arrangements made for the execution of the 
fiendish designs, and as the meeting of this, the ruling 
council of traitors adjourned, it was the settled purpose 
of its members to execute their designs at all hazards, 
in all their horrid details. 

Imagine the horrors of the sacking and destruction of 
that beautiful city! Those fiendish men were in ter- 
rible earnest; and what possible protection could the 



DURING THE WAR. 115 

citizens, have received from the few Union troops in 
Camp Douglas! Col. G. St. Leger Grenfell, an Eng- 
lishman and a Confederate officer at the time, who was 
one of the most desperate, heartless, cruel monsters that 
could be found on all the broad earth — a man who had 
fought under every flag, with the ferocity of a tiger, 
who had betrayed his friends, and slain the helpless, — 
this man was in Chicago, waiting to take command of 
the prisoners of war when released from Camp Doug- 
las, and had expressed his intention to raise the black 
Jiag^ and ?Hurder every Union officer and soldier in 
the Camp and city ! 

To this fiend, reeking with human blood, would the 
fair women, the old men, the children of Chicago be 
compelled to plead for mercy! Sooner might they 
have hoped for mercy from hungry tigers or from fam 
ished wolves! 

Though we had stationed two companies of soldiers 
about Douglas University^ though our brave guard— 
five hundred in number — would have fought to the 
death, and fallen at their posts, what mercy had citizens 
to hope from the Conspirators and the released prison- 
ers? Think of the fearful odds! Thirteen thousand 
soldiers^ three full 7'egi7nents and more of szvorn and 
armed traitors and the many Conspirators from 
abroad^ who would, like vultures, have flocked to the 
frightful carnage — all these against^z^^ hundred men! 
Would to God it were not true, that this carnival of 
death was prepared by dwellers in our land ! Has any 
spectacle in Christendom, except the horrors of the 
French revolution of 1789, ever equalled this! And it 



116 THE GREAT TREASON PLOT 

would have been a reality! Who knowing the facts 
can doubt it? 

That brave and gallant soldier, Maj. Gen. Hooker, 
in reviewing the facts declared that "had the plot not 
been timely disclosed to the Government — had it been 
executed, it were impossible to estimate the disastrous 
consequences to the cause of the Union." 

So said Governor Yates, of Illinois; so said the high- 
est officials of the nation. 

Humanity everywhere execrates the memory of the 
guerrilla Chief Quantrell and his band of murderers 
who in 1863 fell upon the peaceful city of Lawrence, 
Kansas, and massacred one hundred and fifty of the 
unarmed citizens, burned their dwellings, and perpe- 
trated other flagrant outrages, — a deed of diabolism, 
fiendish ferocity and cowardice equalled only and rare- 
ly by the acts of infuriated savages; but the dastardly 
and atrocious deed of Quantrell and his band, as blood- 
curdling as is, and must ever be, its recital, was to have 
been a thousand fold outdone, with all its horrors inten- 
sified in Chicago! 

Many times did Col. Sweet and myself sit together, 
till long past midnight, discussing the situation and pre- 
paring despatches for Washington. These were times 
when we daied not trust to telegraph, for our enemies 
were at the keyboard. Our arrangements were made 
with all celerity and completeness, and though our 
little force was wholly insufficient to successfully resist 
an attack such as was planned, so perfect was the dis- 
cipline, and so well were we aw^are of the plot and 
peril, that the attacking party would have met a warm 
reception ! 



DURING THE WAR. 117 

During the jnonth of July, 1S64, at a meeting of the 
" Sons of Liberty " in Chicago, it was announced that 
a demand had been made upon Governor Morton of 
Indiana for the arms that had been seized, and if these 
were not forthcoming, they, the Conspirators, would 
compel restitution by the bullet, and that Morton would 
be assassmated \i he refused! 

This was the first time to my knowledge that assas- 
sination was proposed by the Order, but not the last; in 
this "art" the Order, later, evinced proficiency. 

At the same meeting it was resolved to resist the 
draft, and all members yet unarmed, were required to 
arm themselves forthwith; all who were unable to 
purchase fire arms would be supplied by the Order, 
An educational and charitable institution, truly! 

It was definitely settled that the uprising should 
occur within sixty days, anil special efforts were made 
to increase the membership of the Order. Snares were 
laid in all the grog-shops and low slums of the city, 
and the "catch" was great. Many were present for 
initiation at every meeting. It was a motley company, 
such as may be seen in police courts, jails, and at prize 
fights. It is doubtful whether half of the number could 
write their own names, or had ever washed themselves 
in their lives; but if they knew nothing of the decen- 
cies of life, they had the essential qualifications for the 
Order, — they had muscle, had brute courage, hated the 
Government, and would rather rifle a bank, than earn 
their bread, and so of course were welcomed as broth- 
ers, and took the oaths very willingly. 



118 THE GREAT TREASON PLOT 

Little did the busy, bustling city know of the plans 
and movements on foot! There was the same activity 
in trade, the same hopeful spirit among Union people, 
the same gathering at amusements, the same busy hum 
of industry as ever — nothing gave evidence of the exis- 
tence of the terrible plot, so soon to culminate and to 
destroy, at a single blow , the hopes of the people, — to 
inaugurate a reign of terror, as fearful as any. in the 
history of the war, or of the world. 

Citizens meeting, congratulated each other upon 
Union victories, and upon the probable speedy close of 
the national strife, and at their homes discussed the 
terrible ravages of war, and as they knelt at the family 
altar, thanked God that our city and our State, and our 
section of the Union, had been spared the immediate 
horrors and desolation which ever mark the theater of 
warfare! Who of all in our fair city, besides the guilty 
wretches who were plotting the ruin and slaughter — 
except the officers of the Government — had even a fore- 
boding of the awful calamity so nearly upon them! 

The gunsmiths were busy, the trade in weapons of 
all kinds was brisk; revolvers and knives especially 
were articles of demand. So briskly and yet so secretly 
was the arming carried on, that several weeks before 
the Democratic National Convention assembled — Aug- 
ust, 1864^ — at the close of which the uprising was to 
occur, but few, if any, of the members of the Order had 
failed to supply themselves with fire-arms and knives. 
The officers of the organization supplied all applicants. 

It was indeed a sad, strange, soul-sickening spectacle 
to look upon — a group of the " Sons of Liberty " in 



DURING THE c WAR. Il9 

their secure retreats, in the quiet hours of night, 
inspecting their muskets and revolvers, moulding hul- 
Icts and making cartridges, while their neighhors were 
c[uietly sleeping, or some with aching hearts were watch- 
ing at the bedside of sick or wounded soldiers who had 
come home perhaps to die, while venerable mothers 
and aged fathers were praying for their brave boys at 
the front, who were battling for the preservation of 
national life — to witness these scenes and to know th^it 
the mission of the Conspirators was the murder of per- 
sons who dared avow and evince their devotion to their 
country ! 

A month before the time fixed upon for the carnival 
of death, large numbers of the Order went out of the 
city together as they had done before, to practice rifle 
shooting and for military drill. 

In July, certain facts appeared in the journals of Chi- 
cago, that were damaging to the Order; the publication 
cast suspicion upon one of the Conspirators, as the 
betrayer of the secrets of the Order, and his brethren 
resolved to assassinate him; three members volunteered 
to do the deed, but upon careful investigation, the sus- 
pected man proved to be as virulent a Conspirator, and 
in all ways as great a scoundrel as any of his brethren, 
all of wliich was perfectly satisfactory to the Order, 
who then w^orked together in unity! 

On Saturday, August 26, 1864, in^niense numbers of 
persons came in haste to Chicago. They came by rail, 
by wagon trains, and on horse back. There came from 
a single county fully a thousand men, all of whom 
were armed. Many brought muskets concealed in 



120 THE GREAT TREASON PLOT 

straw in their wagons. Treason upon the streets of the 
city was rampant, and it would not have been difficult 
in hearing the language of these men, to have fancied 
yourself in Charleston. 

On the evening of that day Buckner S. Morris, an 
ex-Judge of the Circuit Court, " Grand Seignior " of 
the "Sons of Liberty " — Illini Temple — who was thor- 
oughly conversant with the affairs of the Conspirators, 
stated in their council in Chicago, where he was presid- 
ing, that the number of armed and drilled members of 
the Order in the State ot Illinois at that date, was eighty 
thousand men; that there were as many more in Indiana, 
and a still greater number in Ohio; that they were all 
well drilled, and could be implicitly relied upon at the 
right time. He further stated that there were in Chi- 
cago two full regiments of " Sons of Liberty," well 
armed and drilled, and that a third was forming and 
nearly full. 

This, to them, cheering information was received 
with great satisfaction. He added—" The Order is 
strong enough in Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Iowa, Ken- 
tucky and Missouri to enable us to take the General 
Government into our own hands, and as the Washing- 
ton Government has not seen fit to execute the Consti- 
tution and the laws, we will bring them to Illinois and 
execute them ourselves! Thousands of our best men 
are prisoners in Camp Douglas; the meanest of those 
prisoners is purity itself, compared with Lmcoln's hire- 
lings! The tyranny of Abraham the First is fast draw- 
ing to a close, and those who are anxious to fight, will 
not have to wait long. It is our duty to make war 



DURING THE WAR. 121 

against Lincoln's Bastiles, and open their doors to our 
best men who are rotting in them. All who are there 
incarcerated, shall be set at liberty, and once at liberty, 
they will send Abolitionists to hell!" 

You see the learned Judge, notwithstanding his pre- 
sumably refined nature, addressed his audience in lan- 
guage to which they were accustomed and could under- 
stand. 






::if ^^mMim. ,:^^mM 




ROCK ISLAND BARRACKS, ILLINOIS. 



DURING THE WAR. 123 



CHAPTER X. 
Dawn of August zSth — A hundred thousand 

STRANGERS IN CHICAGO MaNY OF THEM WERE 

Conspirators — "Hon/' Jacob Thompson in Can- 
ada — A Canadian p:xpedition to Chicago — 
Col. G. St. Leger Grenfell and Capt. Thomas 
H. HiNES as Commanders — Camp Douglas rein- 
forced — "Brig. General" of the Conspirators 
VISITS THE Camp — The "Woman who carried 

THE mail" full OF "BUSINESS" GeN. PrICE 

and Gen. Buckner out of time — Why the 

UPRISING WAS postponed A LARGE TORCHLIGHT 

PROCESSION IN Chicago led by a Rebel offi- 
cer! Thousands of Conspirators in line. 
August 28th dawned upon at least a hundred thou- 



124 THE GREAT TREASON PLOT 

^a;2^ strangers in Chicago, but there was no difficulty in 
discriminating between gentlemen of the Convention 
and the ruffians of the Order, — the many who the night 
before, having no shelter, imbibed freely of whiskey, 
and laid themselves down to rest in the gutters, much 
to the consternation of the m3a'iads of rats, which at 
that period infested the streets. These sleepers now 
arose, and shaking themselves, like other brutes, their 
toilet was complete. Of all the shaggy-haired, red- 
faced, blear-eyed, blasphemous wretches who ever con- 
gregated at the gallows at Newgate to enjoy the spec- 
tacle of the hanging of a fellow being, the " Sons of 
Liberty " were still lower, if possible. 

The Order had purchased carbines, pistols, guns and 
rifles, and had stored in Chicago sufficient for arming 
several thousand men! These weapons had been 
brought at various times, and were deposited in several 
different places in the city which the "Sons" confidently 
believed were known only to themselves, — to their 
Committee on Arms, but by some means one of my 
men was put on that committee which divided the 
secret, as it were! 

From time to time, one or more boxes of arms were 
placed in trust with the faithful of the Order, in the 
different wards of the city. 

It must not be supposed that our observations were 
confined to Chicago: — Peoria, Springfield, Blooming- 
ton, Dubuque, Sandusky, Cincinnati, St. Louis, and the 
large cities of Indiana and many other places in this 
country and in Canada received our attention. 

It is necessary to introduce some of the people who 



DURING THE WAR. 125 

presented themselves in Chicago on the memorable 28th 
of August, 1864. They came from Canada. 

The Union armies being continually pressed forward 
step by step toward the heart of the Confederacy, 
together with a desire upon the part of the Southern 
authorities, to show to the people of the North what 
invasion meant, to make them feel and see the destruc- 
tion and desolation following an army of invasion, 
determined the Richmond government, in 1863, to send 
its agents to the Canadas, well supplied with money, 
to endeavor to incite discord and to intensify the dis- 
satisfaction already existing in certain circles with the 
Government, to such an extent that it could be made 
available for their own uses, advantages and purposes. 

Knowing that thousands of their soldiers were held 
as prisoners at Johnson's Island and Camp Douglas, 
near Chicago, but little more than twelve hours travel 
from Canada, it became a great object of their govern- 
ment to release the prisoners of war, and in the mean- 
time, having incited a most formidable conspiracy in 
the North and Northwest for the subversion of the 
Union, and for securing material aid and assistance, the 
rebel prisoners being released through the instrumen- 
tality of the Northern and Canadian sympathizers, the 
conspiracy was to extend all over the North, chiefly 
over Illinois, Ohio, Indiana, Kentucky, Missouri and 
New York, and effect the release of all prisoners of war 
held in those States. The ruling idea in Canada at first 
was that the prisoners upon being released were to form 
a nucleus about which ail the dissatisfied people of the 
Northern States would rally and maintain their cause 



126 THE GREAT TREASON PLOT 

in the North, and by rallying in formidable numbers to 
cause the withdrawal of so many troops from the front 
to establish peace at home, that it would materially 
change the character of the conflict, as well as the 
theater of war from the Southern to the Northern 
States. Upon the withdrawal of the Union forces in 
any considerable numbers from the front, was to follow 
the advance of the rebel armies into Kentucky, Tennes- 
see and Missouri. 

Sterling Price would not, perhaps, have invaded the 
State of Missouri in the Autumn of 1864, ^'^^^ ^^ ^"^^^ 
been to give all possible aid and assistance to the con- 
spiracy, just then ready to culminate; and this doubtless 
explains the position that Hood occupied for nearly two 
months in Northern Georgia, Alabama and Tennessee. 
He, no doubt, assumed the position because it was 
deemed absolutely necessary by the Richmond Govern- 
ment that his army should be placed where, upon the 
breaking out of the conspiracy, he would be enabled to 
exercise great influence and full co-operation for its 
success. 

To further the designs of which we have spoken, 
Jacob Thompson of Mississippi, formerly Secretary of 
the Interior, under Buchanan's administration, was 
made a secret agent for the Confederate government, 
in the Canadas, and the sum of a quarter of a million 
dollars was placed in his hands for the purpose of arm- 
ing any expedition he might place on foot from British 
America, for injury of the inland or ocean commerce of 
the United States, or harrassing Northern borders, and 
especially for the release of the prisoners of war at 



DURING THE WAR. 127 

Camp Douglas and Johnson's Island; and from the 
beginning of Mr. Thompson's services in Canada, we 
may date all the organized expeditions from British 
America against the United States. Chief of all these 
expeditions were two attempts, in the year 1864, to 
release the prisoners of war at Camp Douglas, and two 
attempts to capture the steamer " Michigan " — the 
United States vessel of war of iS guns, stationed on 
Lake Erie, and release the prisoners of war on John- 
son's Island, — expeditions to which further reference 
will be made. 

To aid Mr. Thompson in Canada, several officers 
w'ere detailed from the Southern armiy, prominent 
among whom were Col. St. Leger Grenfell, an English- 
man of whom I have spoken, and Capt. T. H. Hines, 
a young officer commended by Gen. John A. Morgan, 
as possessing military talents, of a high order. In 
co-operation with these men, were a great many citizens 
of both the Northern and Southern States, who, while 
they w^ere not authorized to act in any manner, yet 
evinced their zeal in the course of rebellion, by aiding 
Mr. Thompson, and encouraging refugees from the 
Northern States to take an active part in schemes to 
harrass the Northern borders of the United States. 

The most prominent among this class were George N* 
Sanders, C. C. Clay, formerly Member of United States 
Congress from Alabama, Col. Steele, and a secret 
agent on special duty in Canada — ^Judge Holcombe of 
Virginia, who was sent there for the purpose of se- 
cretly establishing agencies for the returning of soldiers 
who wished to go South. However Mr. Holcomb's 



128 THE GREA.T TREASON PLOT 

mission removed him from military matters, he never- 
theless approved of the different expeditions which 
were then being organized, and did more perhaps than 
any one else to cause the " unpleasantness," existing 
between the citizens of the United States and of 
Canada. Mr. Holcombe enlisted besides the feelings, 
the interests of many prominent business men. 

Upon the departure of Mr. Holcombe to the South, 
his business was entrusted to C. C. Clay. During 
Holcombe's stay in Canada, the speculative brain of 
George N. Sanders originated the idea of the "Niagara 
Falls Peace Conference," at which there was but one 
Southern official, and he was not authorized to act in 
the matter. But the speculative Sanders endeavored to 
establish the popular belief that the South desired peace, 
and that they. Clay and Holcombe, although not 
authorized Commissioners, still could represent the 
Southern people. The "conference " was but a game 
for rich reward, and the humbug was too apparent for 
success. 

Having briefly outlined the character and polity of 
the leaders, a few words will be pertinent concerning 
the persons led by such men. 

Recruiting was extensively carried on in Canada, the 
persons enlisting, for purposes hostile to the Union, 
being chiefly " Skedadlers " — a word coined at that 
period — refugees, bounty jumpers and escaped criminals. 
The "Skedadlers" were those persons who had been 
drafted, or were afraid they might be, and so had made 
all possible haste over the Canadian border! Many of 
them came bravely back when the war was over — per- 



DURING THE W AR. 129 

haps to put in claims for pensions and back pay! 
Refugees were opposed to the Union on general prin- 
ciples, and went to Canada, where they could give 
expression to their hatred of the Union, under the pro- 
tection of the British lion. The last class, a numerous 
one, consisted of bounty-jumpers, and escaped criminals, 
who could not be pursued and brought back, under the 
extradition treaty. These were some of the persons 
who came to Chicago, to share in the slaughter and in 
the profits the banks might yield when "worked " by 
them. 

On the night of August 26th, these men, to the num- 
ber perhaps of two hundred, left Toronto for Chicago, 
arriving soon after. They were armed with weapons 
sent from New York, expressly for the purpose. It 
was hoped that the expedition, and their sympathizers 
from the several States, who came armed to assist in 
the plot, would be enabled to enter the city without 
detection, with the vast throngs who were then assem- 
bling there from all parts of the United States, and 
under the guise of friendly visitors, were to be ready at 
a moment's notice when called upon, to spring out 
before the people in their true light, and effect the 
release of the prisoners of war in Camp Douglas. 

The expedition was under the command of Capt. 
Thomas H. Hines of Gen. J. A. Morgan's corps, 
assisted by Col. St. Leger Grenfell, who had served in 
the Confederate army as Adj. Gen. to Morgan, and 
afterwards on Gen. Bragg's staff, but who pretended to 
have resigned his commission in the Southern army, 
and to be living quietly in Canada; also by Capt. 
Castleman of Morgan's command. 



130 THE GREAT. TREASON PLOT 

This expedition was to be met in Chicago by parties 
from nearly all the middle, western and border States, 
armed and having the same purpose. Of those citizens 
who came to Chicago armed and ready, there were 
more than a thousand persons, organized and officered, 
dispersed in the city, but waiting for the command, and 
there were also assembled in the city, fully six thousand 
" Sons of Liberty," who had come from different places, 
and who were ready to co-operate with the Expedition 
from Canada. 

The military authorities at the Camp were not idle. 
At this time, we were re-inforced by about twelve 
hundred men, as already stated. Infantry and artillery 
were in the most creditable condition. The Conspira- 
tors looked with dismay upon every new arrival of 
troops at Camp, as it was reported in their headquarters 
by spies who had the temerity to go to the observ- 
atory overlooking the Camp, from which they could 
see everything within it. During the Summer, the 
Brio-. General of the Order had made a visit to the 
Camp to inspect its condition, which w^as doubtless as 
well known to the Conspirators, as to the officers in 
command. 

The time fixed upon for the uprising of the great 
army of Conspirators came, but the event did not occur; 
not from lack of harmonious action on the part of the 
sworn traitors, but General Price failed to make his 
appearance in the vicinity of St. Louis, or Gen. Buckner 
about Louisville. 

Of course the " Sons of Liberty " who had come to 
Chicao-o with the belief that the uprising would occur 



DURING THE WAR. 131 

just as designed, and that they would reap a g^olden 
harvest from the banks and mercantile palaces, looked 
with an evil eye upon the property of the citizens, and 
hoped to the last that spme lucky incident might occur 
which wodld provoke an outbreak, and afford them 
opportunity for pillage, but they were doomed to dis- 
appointment, and with surly looks and threats of ven- 
geance, they left the city, resolved at an early date to 
draw their pay, principal and interest, from the banks 
and other depositories of wealth. 

As soon as It was generally known to the conspirators 
that the event had been postponed for a time, Col. 
Grenfell and Capt. Castleman made their appearance 
among them, and stated that all who were willing 
should go to Southern Illinois and Indiana to organize 
and drill the enemies of the Union, for the event soon 
to occur, and that he — Grenfell and Capt. Hines 
would remain in Chicago and vicinity, and work to 
great advantage. The men and officers from Canada 
were severally paid various sums of money, and fifty of 
them went to Southern Illinois and Indiana, and the 
others returned to Canada. 

The evening before the departure of the would-be 
murderers, a very large torchlight procession illuminated 
the streets of Chicago, in which were the officers and 
members of the " Sons of Liberty " of the city and 
abroad, and at ij:s head was the Major General of the 
Order — the Grand Military Commander of the State, 
and Chief of the Staff of Supreme Commander of the 
Order in the United States! At that moment, that 
man had a program which, had an intimation been re- 



132 THE GREAT TREASON PLOT 

ceived from Buckner or Price, would have been of 
fearful import to the citizens of Chicago! This man 
had visited Chicago, July 20th, as the agent of the 
Confederacy. 

Indiana and Southern Illinois were well chosen 
fields for drill and organization of traitors. The Order 
in Indiana had been disturbed, and for a brief time 
silenced, by the conviction and death sentence of four 
of its leaders, as already stated, but the Military Com- 
mission had scarcely closed its session, than it was again 
in full blast, and some of its officers were initiated into 
the higher degree of the Order in Chicago; on one 
occasion a Judge from that State was admitted into full 
fellowship, and edified the meeting with glowing 
accounts of the recent rapid increase of membership in 
his State, since the Military Commission had "squelched" 
the Order! The brethren were jubilant on the 
occasion, and would see to it — so they declared — that 
no officer ever again interfered with the Order! 

Fulton County, Illinois, was a favorite " stamping 
ground " of the leaders. In that Countj' Assistant Pro- 
vost Marshal Phelps was shot; there, too, enrolling 
officer Criss was shot — both by assassins! There 
resided the State Grand Commander of the " Sons of 
Liberty." 



DURING THE WAR. 183 



CHAPTER XL 
Attempt to capture the U. S. Steamer Michi- 
gan BY strategy and SURPRISE DETAILS OF 

THE Plot — Expeditions from Canada — Gath- 
ering OF " Sons of Liberty " in Sandusky 
City — The plot as corroborated by two of 

THE officers IN CHARGE OF THE EXPEDITIONS 

Piracy on Lake Erie — -Seizure of the "Philo 
Parsons" and "Island Queen" — Proposed 

RELEASE of THE PRISONERS OF WAR AT JoHNSON's 

Island — The designs of the Conspirators in 

THE EVENT OF SUCCESS IN CaPTURING THE WAR 

Steamer — All large lake ports to be com- 
pelled TO PAY tribute TeLEGRAM OF WARN- 
ING TO THE Commander of the " Michigan " — 
Banquet on board the Steamer — A leading 
Conspirator who gave the banquet arrested 



134 THE GREAT TREASON PLOT 

AT THE TAI5I.E HeNCE THE P'AILURE OF MESSAGE 

OR SIGNAL TO THE PIRATE CREW OF THE " PaR- 

so.vs " — Abandonment of the plot — The 

LEADER HUNG FOR PiRACY. 

Durin<j^ the August visitation of the traitors to Chi- 
cago, their fellow conspirators made an attempt to 
capture the U. S. War Steamer " Michigan," carrying 
eighteen guns, stationed on Lake Erie, and used for 
guarding prisoners of war on Johnson's Island., in San- 
dusky Bay. The prisoners at Camp Douglas being 
released — which the traitors doubted not would be done 
— the capture of the, " Michigan" was to startle the 
country, and aid in overturning the United States Gov- 
ernment. With the "Michigan" in their possession, 
the conspirators would have a powerful arm of warfare 
to be used for the release of the prisoners of war, 
for the ruin of our commerce on the great lakes, 
enabling them to close the lake ports and exact tribute 
from all cities and large towns on the lake borders, 
which, they believed, would yield enormous sums of 
money. While villains were assembling in Chicago, 
other villains were gathering in Sandusky City, armed 
and ready for their work of death and destruction. 

The plot of the Conspirators to obtain possession of 
the " Michigan" was by bribery and surprise. Jacob 
Thompson of Canada, in his efforts to seize the vessel, 
secured the services of a man named Cole, of Sandusky 
City, who had been a citizen of Virginia and still 
retained his sympathies for the rebellion, and took an 
active part in aiding it, and a woman who carried de- 
patches between the parties. Cole played his part in 



DURING THE WAR. 135 

the plot with great cunning. His work was begun 
by attempts in a variety of ways, to win the confidence 
of officers in command both of the steamer and the 
Island. It is said — and doubtless with truth — that a 
number of persons from Canada had enlisted on the 
"Michigan" for the purpose of aiding in the seizure. 
When the time for action arrived, the engineer and 
persons charged with being his accomplices, were not 
to be found, and the conspirators returned to Canada. 
Later, another attempt was made to capture the 
" Michigan." A week prior to the time fixed upon, 
Capt. Beal, — the most active agent m the affair — went 
from Sandusky to Windsor, Canada, and announced to 
Jacob Thompson that all was in readiness to make the 
capture. The men in Canada, who were to participate 
in the desperate undertaking, were armed. 

The plan of the pirates, as stated by two officers who 
commanded detachments of the party, were that seventy- 
five or a hundred armed men were to go from Canada to 
Sandusky City, by rail; another party were to cross the 
river at Detroit, early Monday morning, and take pass- 
ageon the steamer " Philo Parsons " for Sandusky; an- 
other party were to take passage on the same steamer at 
Sandwich, Canada; and still another party were to charter 
a small steamer — the " Scotia," then plying between 
Windsor and Detroit; ostensibly for the purpose of mak- 
ing a pleasure trip to Maiden, Canada, some twenty 
miles below Detroit, whence they were also to take pass- 
age on the " Parsons. " At Kelley's Island, they ex- 
pected to receive a message from Capt. Cole, concerning 
matters in Sandusky, upon receipt of which, they were 



136 THE GREAT TREASON PLOT 

to seize the " Parsons," before her arrival at the next 
landing. 

The engineer and pilot were to be forced to continue 
their services; the passengers were to be put off at 
some out of the way place, where it would be impossible 
for them to give information to the authorities, and 
after dark, the pirates were to run into Sandusky Bay, 
where they expected to see certain signals from con- 
spirators on shore, when they would touch the landing, 
take on board those who had come by rail, and other 
conspirators and immediately steer for the "Michigan." 
Capt. Cole was to give a champagne supper on board 
the "Michigan" that evening, to tlie officers and was 
to be accompanied by a party of kindred spirits invited 
to join in the festivities. 

It was intended for the " Philo Parsons" to reach 
hailing distance of the war steamer about midnight, for 
by that time the crew — it was believed — would be so 
far under. the influence of liquor, as to be incapable of 
defence. Cole and his associates were to take posses- 
sion of a gun which would sweep the deck, and so pre- 
vent those who might not be intoxicated from making 
effectual resistance. 

Once in possession of the " Michigan," the next 
objective point would be Johnson's Island. The expec- 
tation of immense sums as tribute, was the greatest 
inducement held out to the desperadoes before leaving 
Canada, and they were the more desperate from the 
certainty that if they should fail in their undertaking 
and should be captured, speedy death would be their 
fate. 



DURING THE WAR. 137 

On Monday, upon the arrival of the "Philo Par- 
sons " at Maiden, the several parties of conspirators 
took passage on board of her. It w^as not the intention 
of the pirates to seize the " Parsons " until near San- 
dusky City, and in the event of failure to receive a 
message at Kelley's Island, from Capt. Cole, they were 
not to take possession of her at all, but land at San- 
dusky; but their conduct on the trip had excited the 
suspicion of the officers of the boat, who expressed their 
intention of giving information to the officials upon 
arrival at their destination, whereupon Capt. Beal 
determined to seize the vessel then, which was accord- 
ingly done to the great terror of the passengers and 
crew. At Put-in-Bay, where the "Parsons" stopped 
to obtain a supply of fuel, the pirates seized the steamer 
" Island Queen," then pillaged and scuttled her. No 
despatch was received from Capt. Cole. After dark 
the pirate steamer ran down into Sandusky Bay, but 
failing to see the signals agreed upon, after waiting a 
short time, returned to the open lake, convinced that 
something had happened to their friends in Sandusky 
City, which would prevent the capture of the " Michi- 
gan," and Capt. Beal announced his intention of cruis- 
ing on the lake as long as possible, burning and des- 
troying all the property he could find, but his men, 
fearing the guns of the " Michigan," insisted upon 
returning home and he consented, but told Mr. Thomp- 
son on his return to Canada, that "if it had not been 
for the mutinous scoundrels, I could have run that 
steamer on the lakes for weeks, burning and destroying 
all the vessels we might meet, before the Yankees 
could have made us take to land." 



138 THE GREAT TREASON PLOT 

The day before the piratical expedition left Windsor 
as stated, the United States authorities had been notified 
of its purpose, and in consequence of the information, 
Capt. Cole was arrested while he was at the table dining 
with the officers on board the " Michigan," which, of 
course, prevented him from communicating with the 
conspirators. If the plans of Lieut. Col. Hill, the effi- 
cient commander of the Post at Detroit, had been fol- 
lowed, he would have captured the w^hole piratical 
crew His plans were to allow them to take the " Par- 
sons," and then before they had time to do any damage, 
have the " Michigan" meet them on their way to San- 
dusky City, and capture them all together, and thus 
relieve the Government from any further trouble with 
them. Col. Hill telegraphed the Commander of the 
war steamer, requesting him to do this, and the reason 
why he did not do so was that the machinery of the 
vessel was out of order, thus showing how well those 
who had been bribed had executed their plans. Later 
on, Capt. Beal was hung in Sandusky City for piracy 
on Lake Erie. * 



*The late Hon. Sylvester Larned wrote concerning: the writer's account 
of the attempt to capture the U. S. Steamer "Michigan" and piracy on Lake 
Erie: 

"CoL. I. WiNSLOw Ayer — Dear Brother — The 'Philo Parsons' seizure, 
ete., I know all about, and have Col. Burleigh's Commission in the Confeder- 
ate Navy, signed by President Davis. 1 have the testimony in full, and can 
produce it to verify your statements." 



DURING THE WAR. 139 



CHAPTER XII. 
Again the date was fixed for the uprising — 
Second attempt to release the prisoners of 
WAR in Northern Prisons — Plot to assassin- 
ate President Lincoln — The price of blood — 

A FUND TO REWARD THE ASSASSIN ThE MURDER- 
ous design known in washington six months 

prior to the perpetration of the deed 

Booth echoes the utterance of traitors in 
Chicago and executes the fell purpose of 
THE Order — The opinion of Gen. Burnett, 
Judge Advocate of t-he Military Commission 

WHO TRIED THE ASSASSINS A YOUNG REBEL CaP- 

TAIN SAVED FROM AN IGNOMINIOUS FATE A VIC- 
TIM OF THE PRECEPTS OF THE OrDER WiLDEST 

ENTHUSIASM OF THE CONSPIRATORS IMMINENT 

PERIL OF Chicago — A meeting of the Order 



/ 



140 THE GREAT TREASON PLOT 

called for sunday evening, nov. 6 1s64 

Period of intense anxiety to officers of the 

Government. 

We return to the story of the Chicago Conspirators, 
and in the few moments in which we will discuss the 
subject, will learn of the second and last attempt to 
release the prisoners from Camp Douglas, and other 
Camps of the North, to pillage and burn Chicago, and 
to assassinate the military authorities. 

The plans of the Conspirators for the uprising, which 
were to have been executed in August 1864, had only 
been postponed — not materially changed. The date of 
the uprising was fixed for November 8, 1864 — the eve- 
ning of election day. It had often been said in the 
violent harangues in the Chicago Council of the Order, 
that in case Lincoln was elected, he would never be 
inaugurated, but this vague intimation of some dark 
design was to assume definite expression. During the 
month of October, at a meeting of the "Sons of Lib- 
erty" in Chicago, a proposition was made to raise a 
fund of fifty thousand dollars for the person who 
would assassinate President Lincoln. This base pro- 
posal was freely discussed by some of the leading mem- 
bers, one of whom declared that "Extermination of 
tyrants is obedience to God!" Said another Son of 
Satan from New York, in Chicago, at another meeting 
— "The people will soon rise, and if they cannot put 
Lincoln out of power by the b^illot, they will by the 
bullet!" 

"6'zV Semper Tyrannis P'' exclaimed Booth on the 
night of April 14, 1865, in echo of the utterances of 



DURING THE WAR. 141 

traitors in Chicago, and with his words, our President 
met his death. "They will by the bullet!'' So was 
the prophecy fulfilled! The fiends who began with 
the murder of Provost Marshals, and enrolling officers 
in Illinois, exhibited equal skill with victims of higher 
rank in Washington. 

Gen. H. L. Burnett, Judge Advocate of the Military 
Commission, who tried the assassins of President Lin- 
coln, wrote to me — " I have no doubt but that accursed 
treasonable Order, the "Sons of Liberty," had much to 
do with bringing into existence the state of feeling, the 
venomous bitterness of which culminated in the assas- 
sination of President Lincoln." 

Nor do I doubt it, nor can any intelligent person 
doubt it, if cognizant of the circumstances. The infam- 
ous proposal was promptly communicated to the Com- 
mandant of the Post, and to Hon. E. Stanton, Secre- 
tary of War. 

The teachings of the Order led young men into the 
worst of all crimes — treason against their country. I 
will mention but a single incident of the kind that came 
under my notice: 

In the winter of 1864-5, ^'^ile passing through the 
barracks in Cincinnati, I saw a young man only eigh- 
teen years of age, a prisoner, to be tried for treason, in 
forming a military Company in Chicago, for fighting 
against the country. He had been arrested as he was 
about to cross the Ohio to Kentucky, to enter the Con- 
federate service. ' I investigated the matter. The young 
man's imagination had been wrought upon by the "Sons 
of Liberty" till he felt it his duty to go to the front and 



142 THE GREAT TREASON PLOT 

give his services, and his Hfe, perhaps, to the cause he 
believed to be right, and now^ was to be tried for the 
crime. I sought an early opportunity to present the 
case to Maj. Gen. Hooker, Commanding the Depart- 
m.ent, and made an earnest appeal in his behalf. The 
General, as notable for humanity as for justice, took 
the matter under advisement and acceded to my request, 
and gave an order for the prisoner's release. The 
youth became a noble man. Thousands of young men 
v^ere, in like manner, led astray by this accursed fanat- 
icism. 

Let not the multitude of malefactors seek to throw 
upon Booth, the assassin, or Beal, the pirate, or Ken- 
nedy, the incendiary, or other criminals arrested, the 
sole responsibility of the guilty deeds perpetrated by 
their hands, for these were the outcome of the fiendish 
Conspiracy, and existed in the animus as well as in the 
heart and hand of the wretches who fired the bullet 
or lighted the torch! 

The evening of November 3d there was an unusually 
large meeting of the Conspirators in Chicago. Vallan- 
digham was expected to be present, but did not appear. 
The Brig. General of the Order for the district, and 
other notables were present. Speeches of the most 
exciting character were made, and the wildest enthus- 
iasm prevailed. At the close, a meeting was called for 
Sunday evening, and all were urged to be present, as 
the "Brig. General" had a most important communica- 
tion to make. 

To Officers of the Government, cognizant of the acts, 
designs and preparations of the villainous Order, this 
was a period of intense anxiety. To what fearful peril 



DURING THE WAR. 143 

was the city exposed! With only ^hout Jive Jumdred 
men to guard the Post — with thirteen thousand prison- 
ers, veteran soldiers ni camp; with three regiments of 
secret, sworn enemies of the Union, in Chicago, armed, 
drilled, ready and eager to begin their murderous work; 
and knowing that the entire body of traitors in the 
state, and in several other states, would rise simultan- 
eously with those in Chicago, — in this most painful 
position to know that the eventful moment was fast 
coming when the infernal machinery was to be set in 
motion, and to make arrangements to avert the calam- 
ity if possible, and so quietly as not to excite alarm 
among the leaders, — all the responsibilities resting upon 
us — upon Col. B.J. Sweet, Commandant of the Post, 
and myself, the only parties who could hope to avert 
the danger — received our closest attention day and 
night. 



144 THE GREAT TREASON PLOT 



CHAPTER XIII. 
Gathering of Traitors Sunday evening, in the 
heart of the city final details of the 

FIENDISH PLOT DESPERADOES IN COUNCIL ThE 

business — Fires to be kindled in different 

PARTS OF the city, JUST BEFORE THE ATTACK 

UPON Camp Douglas — Colored rockets as sig- 
nals TO the prisoners — Messages by the 
" Woman Who Carried the Mail " — All 
arrangements of the Conspirators completed 
— The meeting closed by distribution of arms 
TO those who were unarmed, and the orders 
of offcers for special services — But forty- 
eight hours to elapse before the execution 
of the terrible plot — The officers of the 
Government prompt in action — The dreams 



DURING THE WAR. 145 

OF THE Conspirators disturbed — "Taken up 

TENDERLY, LIFTED WITH CARE " ThE LEADERS 

arrested MORNINCJ NEWSPAPERS OF MoNDAY 

PUBLISH A REPORT OF THE SuNDAY NIGHT MEET- 
ING — Alarming telegramto the news journ- 
als — Exodus of villains to Canada — The 

BALANCE OF THE TWO MILLION FUND SeIZURE OF 

immense number of FIRE ARMS, NEARLY ALL 

loaded, and great quantities of ammunition 
— Women conspirators try to utilize hoop" 
skirts for concealment and transportation 
OF revolvers — Ludicrous phase of the affair 

A YOUNG LAWYER PUTS HIS "BEST FEET" FOR- 
WARD — Colonel Grenfell, the Englishman, 

THREATENS TO SEND THE ENTIRE BRITISH ArMY 

AND Navy for redress! 

Sunday evening came. Our citizens worshiping in 
the churclies, or in peaceful repose in their homes, httle 
knew of the imminent peril to which they were exposed, 
or of the gathering of traitors in the heart of the cit}'', 
to arrange the final details of the plot, which if success- 
ful, would bring ruin, desolation and death to thousands 
of unsuspecting people. 

Up the entrance to " Invincible Club " hall. South 
Clark street, Chicago, cautiously crept the members of 
the Order. The door was carefully guarded. The 
meeting was large, and a more desperate looking con- 
course was never assembled. There were many strang- 
ers in the city, who, the Brigadier General of the O rdq 



146 THE GREAT TREASON PLOT 

stated " had come to fight." These men were evidently 
the desperadoes who had visited our city in August, and 
turned their backs so reluctantly upon our banks and 
stores. Their coming had not been heralded, but struck 
the city as did the plague of amphibious animals and 
vermin the land of Egypt. 

The meeting proceeded to "business." It was 
arranofed that a detachment of men should be stationed 
in each ward of the city for '' special service." To dis- 
tinguish friends and members of the organization, it 
was ordered that each one should wear a knot of red 
and white ribbon, on the left breast. 

Fires were to be kindled in different parts of the city, 
at the same time, and these would engage the attention 
of the citizens while the attack upon Camp Douglas 
was being made. Near the camp was a growth of 
small wood, which offered a partial cover for the attack- 
ing party, who were to go thither in small groups, to 
avoid attracting the attention of sentinels upon the 
parapets, or of citizens upon the streets; and when 
ready, they were to suddenly spring forward from 
cover, and simultaneously assault thi'ee sides of the 
enclosure. 

There can be no doubt the prisoners were fully 
apprised of the design, as a couple of nights before, 
colored rockets had been sent up from the copse in the 
vicinity of the Camp, which were pre-arranged signals, 
and messages and missives had been carried into the 
Camp by the wife of one of the leaders of the Order. 

After the close of the Sunday evening meeting, 
many revolvers were given to the visitors. There were 



DURING THE WAR. 147 

now h\x\. forty -eight hours to elapse before the denoue- 
ment of the plot! Every arrangement had been com- 
pleted, and when the Conspirators left the hall and 
exchanged their adieus, it was confidently believed by 
all that they would meet on the Tuesday evening fol- 
lowing to execute the plot in its minutest details. 

The opportune moment for the officers of the Gov- 
ernment had arrived, and they were prompt in action. 
Before daylight Monday, Nov. 7, we began to gather 
up the agents of evil. Carriages for the dignitaries 
were called, and we gathered them in. Officers called 
at the houses of the leaders, and disturbed their dreams 
by an invitation for an early drive to the Camp. Some 
of them who would have hesitated and made loud out- 
cries, were "taken up tenderly, lifted with care." 
They had neither the time nor ability to disturb the 
early morning with their cries of distress, but with 
hasty toilet, and no parting messages, they were whirled 
away to Camp Douglas. The " Brig. General " of the 
Order, Col. G. St. Leger Grenfell, the hero of the 
" black flag," the demonstrative old Judge, and many 
other leaders of the Conspirators were all brought in, 
and though they had been trying for so long to get 
there, still they were not happy! 

From the premises of " Brig. Gen." Charles Walsh 
was seized an immense number of army revolvers, cav- 
alry carbines, double-barrelled guns and the best rifles 
— nearly all loaded; thirty thousand rounds of cartridges, 
a large quantity of powder. Confederate flags and red 
and white badges. There were one hundred and fifty 
prisoners, in all, taken; one-tenth of the number came 



148 THE GREAT TREASON PLOT 

from the Confederate army; the others were " Sons of 
Liberty." 

It was then telegraphed in every direction, that the 
designs of the Order were fully known to the Govern- 
ment; that their leaders were at that moment in prison, 
and that other arrests would quickly follow. The con- 
sternation of the traitors was truly great. They felt 
that notwithstanding all their precautions and death 
penalties, the eye of the Government had been upon 
them, even in their most secret places; nor was their 
consternation in the least relieved, when they read in 
the newspapers of Monday an extract from the speech 
of their " Brig. General " on Sunday evening! 

The " Sons of Liberty " kept aloof from their halls, 
and many of them ran azvay; among the runners was 
the agent holding the unexpended balance of the tzvo 
mi/lion fund. Gentlemen holding unexpended balances 
do sometimes run away, and sometimes — if we may 
credit the public prints — they expend the balances 
before running! 

When the " Brig. General " of the Order learned 
that a United States detective had, by his invitation, 
witnessed the process of cartridge- making in his own 
house, beheld the mysteries and seen the goodly quan- 
tity — the product of his skill and industry, and learned 
that a member of the " Committee on Arms " was the 
right man in the right place, it was truly mortifying, 
and caused him to say, — and very emphatically, — a few 
w'ords in Chinese! It was amusing to behold the hasty 
and not over graceful efforts of women of conspirators' 
households to conceal beneath their wrappings, and their 



DURING THE WAR. 149 

atempt to carry away the weapons, when they found 
that all was discovered — efforts from which they were 
reheved by the gallantry of the Commandant of the 
Post. It was vastly more pleasant to us, than to our 
visitors, to see the dray loads of arms and ammunition 
brouglit into camp, instead of being used against us. 

The occasion had a ludicrous phase. One young 
lawyer threatened the authorities at camp with legal 
proceedings, and cited innumerable reports and cases 
from the law books, to show that we could not arrest 
him; but his eloquence was squelched by an order to 
take off his boots. He " put his best foot forward " and 
removed a boot. I call it his "best foot," because there 
was nothing found in his boot, but when the other had 
been rehictantly removed, a rebel ciunmission was found 
therein! The "proceedings" were to betake himself 
to a small, dark room under the roof of the Colonel's 
quarters, where after solitary reflection for a couple of 
hours, he meekly knocked and expressed deep peni- 
tence, and an urgent desire to confess, and "give away " 
his brethren; this he did, and without reserve, and was 
held as a witness. 

A valiant Captain of tlie Order was so badly 
frightened, that he cried like a whipped school boy. 

Col. G. St. Leger Grenfell stormed and swore till 
the atmosphere was odorous of sulphur. He threatened 
us with the entire British army and navy, till we could 
almost fancy we saw an approaching fleet, sailing down 
the Chicago river, and innumerable hosts of artillery 
foot and cavalry advancing upon us, by way cf Bridge, 
port. 



150 THE GREAT TREASON PLOT 

Many of the " lesser lights " of the Order, not arrested 
but apprehensive that they would surely, quickly be, 
started at all speed for Canada. 



CHAPTER XIV. 
A Military Commission convened in Cincinnati 

FOR THE TRIAL OF THE PRISONERS CONVICTION 

, OF '^ Brig. Gen." Charles Walsh, Col. G. St. 
Leger Grenfell and Richard T. Semmes — 
Confession of "the woman who carried the 
mail" — Personal Sketches of the prisoners 
— Hate of the Country's secret foe — Three 
known attempts to assassinate the writer 
— Eminent Scoundrels and the "Unwashed" 
— " Give the Devil his due " — What Vallan- 

DIGIIAM would have DONE HAD HE "SUPPOSED " 

there w-as a Conspiracy — What he did as 
" Supreme Commander" of the Conspirators 
— The Order left nothing to be supposed — 
The great moral cancer fully extirpated — 



DURING THE V/AR. 151 

The design upon Chicago but an incident of 

*' THE great Treason Plot." 

A Military Commission was convened in Cincinnati 
for the trial of the prisoners — Brig. Gen. Charles 
Walsh, Col. St. Leger Grenfell, Ex-Judge Buckner S. 
Morris, Col. B. M. Anderson, Charles Travis Daniels, 
(of Morgan's command), Capt. George Cantril, (also of 
Morgan's command), Vincent Marmadiike and Richard 
T. Semmes, charged with conspiracy for the release of 
the prisoners at Camp Douglas, and of conspiring to 
" lay waste and destroy the city of Chicago." Morris 
and Marmaduke were acquitted and discharged upon 
taking the oath of allegiance, Charles Walsh and 
Richard T. Senmies were found guilty of all the 
charges and specifications. Grenfell was also found 
guilty and sentenced to death, at such time and place as 
Maj. Gen. Hooker should designate. Capt. George 
Cantril's trial was continued, owing to the serious ill- 
ness of the prisoner. Col. Anderson committed suicide 
during the trial, and Charles Travis Daniels escaped and 
was not recaptured. 

The lady who carried the mail was sent South of 
the lines, where she doubtless " carried the news to 
Mary." 

Col. G. St. Leger Grenfell had fought in every 
clime. He proposed to raise the black flag and murder 
every Union soldier in the camp and city, and was to 
have assumed command of the prisoners of war upon 
their release from Camp Douglas, and to this man, the 
loyal citizens of Chicago would have been compelled 
to appeal for mercy. 



152 THE GREAT TREASON PLOT 

Gen. Burnett, Judge Advocate of the Commission 
said of Col Grenfell: — "As to this man, I confess I 
have no sympathy with him; no sympathy for the 
foreigner who hmds in our country when this nation is 
engaged in the struggle for human right and human 
lihertv, and who takes part in the quarrel against us, 
and arrays himself on the side of those who are try- 
ing to establish tyranny and slavery. I have no sym- 
path\' for the man whose sword is unsheathed for hire 
and not for principle; for whom slavery and despotism 
have more charms than freedom and liberty. The 
motive of such a one does not rise even to the dignity of 
vengeance. As has been said by his counsel, his sword 
has gleamed in every sun, and has been employed^ on 
the side of ahnost every nationality, and after this, he 
engages in our struggle, and as testified to by Col. 
Moore, desires to raise the black flag against our prison- 
ers; and after men have yielded as prisoners of war, he 
rides up to one, and stabs him, coward like, in the back. 

But he is not true to the cause he espouses. When 
in Washington, he Went to the Secretary of War and 
betrays the very people with whom he has been fight- 
ing; tells all he knows of the strength, position and 
designs of the Confederates. He said he proposed to 
leave immediately for England, but he breaks his 
faith, proceeds to Canada, and is found among the con- 
spirators, and is now here, charged with these crimes, 
to-day. There is no throb of my heart that beats in uni- 
son with such conduct as this. He was a fit instrument 
to be used in this enterprise. W^hat to him would be 
the wail of women and little ones? What to him 



DURING THE WAR. 153 

would be the pleadings of old men and unarmed citi- 
zens!" 

Brig. Gen. Charles Walsh — a citizen of Chi- 
cago, at one time Democratic candidate for Sheriff of 
Cook County. Daring the early part of the war he 
was very active in helping to raise what was called the 
" Irish brigade." He afterwards became a bitter par- 
tisan and w^as connected with the " Sons of Liberty." 
Just before and during the National convention, in 
August, 1S64, he received into his family several rebel 
soldiers, who w^ere there during the day and night 
time, making cartridges for the release of the prisoners 
of war at Camp Douglas. He was arrested on the 
morning of the 7th of November. In his house and on 
his premises were an immense number of guns of sev- 
eral kinds, also revolvers, and immense quantities of 
gunpowder, buckshot and cartridges. All these guns 
and pistols Vvere loaded. Charles Walsh was of Irish 
extraction, about forty years of age; and except in the 
character, he assumed as an enemy to his country, was 
possessed of qualities, which won for him many friends. 

Judge Buckner S. Morris — A j^i'ominent lawyer 
and citizen of Chicago, and an earnest advocate of the 
notions and doctrines of the " Sons of Liberty." He 
was arrested in his own house Nov. 7th, 1864. He was 
a rebel and openly sympathized with the rebellion, and 
so strong were his sympathies, that he aided the enemies 
of his country in every way in his power. B. S. Morris 
was, at one time. Judge of the Circuit Court, and a can- 
didate for the office of Lieut. Governor of Illinois. He 
was born in Kentucky and was about sixty years of age 



154 THE GREAT TREASON PLOT 

at the time of his arrest. Aside from his treason, Judge 
Morris was generally regarded as possessing noble 
qualities at heart. 

Col. B. M. Anderson — A young man of educa- 
tion, ability and fine personal appearance, born, reared 
and educated in Kentucky; possessed many excellent 
qualities and was a much better man than any of the 
Northern Copperheads arrested. He had been in the 
Nicaraugua expeditions under the fillibuster. Walker. 
He committed suicide at the barracks in Cincinnati dur- 
ing the progress of the trial. He was not of the base 
material of which the " Sons of Liberty" were made, 
and it is probable would have been acquitted had he 
lived, as there w^as no evidence whatever to connect 
him with the acts or designs of those who were con- 
victed. 

Charles Travis Daniels — a native of Harrison 
County, Kentucky, a lawyer by profession; about 26 
years of age; belonged to Morgan's command, but 
never served in any other capacity than as an enlisted 
man. He was captured with Morgan, but escaped from 
Camp Douglas; was captured at Walsh's house Novem- 
ber 7th, 1864, and escaped again from the military au- 
thorities in Cincinnati, while on trial by the Militarj' 
Commission. He was not recaptured, but was found 
guilty by the Commission. 

Capt. George Cantril — a native of Scott County, 
Kentucky, about 26 years of age; he belonged to Mor- 
gan's command, in which he served as company com- 
mander; was in Morgan's last raid in Kentucky, and at 
his defeat at Cynthiana escaped to Canada. He was 



DURING THE WAR. 155 

with the other conspirators at Chicago during the con- 
vention, and went with them to Southern Illinois for 
the purpose of drilling members of the Order. He was 
captured in the house of Brig. Gen. Charles Walsh, 
November 7th, 1S64. On account of sickness he was 
not tried with the other conspirators. 

Richard T. Semmes — A young man, not over 24 
years of age, was a Mary lander, and a lawyer by pro- 
fession. He orraduated at Yale colleore with distinction 
and his prospects were flattering till he became a " Son 
of Liberty." 

In the Chicago Council of Conspirators was one 
member who was later hung in Chicago as an anarchist, 
and another who was later hung for assassination of 
President Garfield. 

The writer has personally visited Councils of the 
treasonable Order in several States and in many cities, 
but in none did he ever find more desperate, virulent, 
and blood-thirsty beings than in the Council and Tem- 
ple of Chicago. In these assemblages they never tired 
of talking of assassination, bloodshed, of plots and 
schemes adverse to the cause of the Union, of means 
for avoiding the drafts, of gloating over Union defeats 
and losses of men, of applauding and praising the valor 
of the public enemy, and belittling the deeds of our 
brave soldiers, and exciting each other to deeds of vio- 
lence, even of murder. It is certain that on several 
occasions the security and perhaps the life of the writer 
depended upon his reputed skill with weapons. For 
these wretches no honest man can find a shadow of 
excuse for their deeds or their affiliation with such 



156 THE GREAT TREASON PLOT 

bands of traitors. True, indeed, it is that " no man is 
free of guilt who has apologies for treason." 

During the darkest days of the Republic, duty called 
me to oppose the secret enemies of our country, of 
whose evil deeds and designs I have spoken — a service 
which General Hooker, commanding the Northern 
Department, pronounced as among " the most import- 
ant and perilous of the war." Three known desperate 
attempts were made in Chicago to assassinate me— by 
bullets and by an Infernal machine* — and for years 
after the war closed, I was pursued by the malignant 
hate of the Order, whose murderous designs I had foiled, 
and which I effectually suppressed, and largely so, by 
the entire sacrifice of my own private fortune, and 
bringing down upon myself such malignant and per- 
sistent hate of the country's secret foe, as to make my 
life almost a perpetual martyrdom. 

The children of such misguided men will rejoice that 
I spared them the ghastly heritage that would have 
stained and disgraced their names to the latest genera- 
tion! When the verdict of the Military Commission 
established the fact that there had been a conspiracy 
against the country, which many had till then doubted, 
and the guilty had denied, certain influential men — 



* The author was fired upon as he alighted from his carriage on returning- 
to his residence from Camp Douglas — two bullets passing into an oaken up- 
right in a direct line of his head. At another time he received an '" Infernal 
machine," so arranged that upon raising the cover it would explode a heavy 
charge of powder and scatter missiles of death in every direction. It was im- 
mersed in water for hours, and opened in the presence of the police. Again 
his residence was entered between midnight and morning by a conspirator who 
was recognized, as he was encountered upon the stairs by a watchman. The 
desperado effected his escape. Scores of threatening letters were received by 
him during and subsequent to the session of the Military Commission in Cin- 
cinnati and during the trial of the assassins of President Lincoln. 



I 



DURING THE WAR. 157 

members of the treasonable Order— sought to impress 
the piibhc mind with the idea that the Conspiracy was 
confined to a few villains from the slums of Chicago, 
whose sole aim was plunder. I know that the Chicago 
Councils so far from being composed only of low ruf- 
fians, vagabonds and criminals, included many high- 
toned scoundrc^^ — an Ex-Judge of the Circuit Court, 
who had been a candidate for Lieutenant Governor of 
the State, one or more Justices of the Peace; several 
city officials; the leading officers of " Invincible Club" 
— the largest club in the city; several members of the 
bar, etc. Give the devil his due! Since that period 
some of the leading conspirators have sought and 
received governmental favors, and others have had the 
audacity to solicit the suffrages of the people for offi.ce, 
unmindful of a truth that should be impressed upon the 
heart of every citizen, — that the primary qualification 
for public official trust is unwavering loyalty to the 
Republic; no man is deserving the confidence of his fel- 
low citizens wdio has ever proved false to his country! 
Clement L. Vallandigham, "Supreme Commander" 
of the treasonable Order in the United States, made 
oath before the Military Commission that had he "sup- 
posed there was a plot againts the Government," he 
"would have been the first to oppose and expose it! " 
Bless his innocence! Supreme Commander of the 
Order of Conspirators in the United States, and did not 
suppose there was a plot against the Government! 
What the Honorable, the patriotic, the truthful gentle- 
man might have done, had he " supposed " such villainy, 
I will not undertake to say; but what he did, with full 



158 THE GREAT TREASON PLOT 

knowledge of and active participation in the plot, from 
its first inception in the North, to the breaking up of 
the organization, I know ! From the hour of his arrest, 
and during the period of his exile, his history is all 
known to the Government! I have met the leaders of 
the great conspiracy in this country and in Canada, — 
the eminent scoundrels and the unwashed — face to face, 
— in their Secret Councils and in their dark seances, in 
their cartridge factories, in their places of concealment 
of arms and in the military prisons! I never once lost 
sight of our secret enemy while our country was in 
peril from this infernal machinations! I saw in the 
Council hall of the Conspirators in Chicago, a Justice 
of the Peace hold in his hand, and heard him delineate 
to the red handed ruffians and for the edification of the 
high toned villains of the Order there assembled, the 
map of Camp Douglas in its minutest details, and heard 
him declare that he would lead the proposed attack 
upon the Camp! I heard the proposal made in the 
lodge-room of the villainous Order, to raise money to 
incite assassination of President Lincoln! I heard, time 
and again, in their Councils, threats against the life of 
the President, and of Governor Morton of Indiana! 
No man ever joined the organization without acquiring 
full knowledge of its ultimate ends. The Order left 
nothing to be " supposed." No man caring for his life 
dared to say a single word in their Councils in favor of 
the Union. 

Fellow citizens, you now know the facts without col- 
ormg or exaggeration! Well was it for the country 
that the conspirators were foiled ! Well was it for the 



DURING THE WAR. 159 

people of Chicago, that the horror was averted — that 
they passed the most critical period of their existence 
without even knowing that they were threatened with 
overwhelming disaster; that there was a mine beneath 
their feet, ready to be sprung at any moment, and that 
citizens were pulling at the spring, with intent to 
involve the innocent in utter ruin! Citizens of Chicago 
know what the conflagration of a city means! They 
know all its horrors, even when thousands of brave and 
gallant firemen, all unmindful of self, hasten to the res- 
cue and perform deeds of noble heroism ; and when 
sympatizing cities far and near endeavor to mitigate the 
inevitable suffering consequent upon such awful calam- 
ity! They have seen and felt all this! But how 
incomparably more terrible is the condition of a city 
given over to armed ruffians, to slaughter, to torture, to 
pillage and conflagration! 

And yet the design upon Chicago was but an inci- 
dent of the great Treason Plot — a plot which for mag- 
nitude, cunning and perfidy was without a parallel in 
the history of any nation — a plot most cunningly 
devised for the overthrow of the Government and the 
downfall of American liberty! Am I reminded that 
the war is long since over, and hence that it is impolitic 
to discourse of the hidden dangers of that period! The 
concealed pitfall required for safety a land mark, — 
the sunken ledge to be noted upon the mariner's chart! 
The reminder is needless, — the fact irrelevant to the 
subject, for I speak not of open warfare, nor of brave 
men in field or council, but of basest criminalty that 
might have been looked for from the Apache Indians, 



160 THE GREAT TREASON PLOT 

but not from civilization or people claiming education. 

By the proposed uprising an army of oath-bound 
traitors would by savage warfare have been arrayed 
against the country. Assuming the prowess and ulti- 
mate triumph of the Union arms, what the possible 
period of prolongation of the war, with all its horrors, 
by the uprising! In the States of Illinois, Indiana and 
Ohio there were more than two h7indi'ed and fo7'ty 
thousand members of the treasonable Order, all armed, 
thoroughly drilled, and to be implicitly relied upon, to 
say nothing of the secret forces in Kentuck}^, Missouri, 
Tennessee, Maryland, Iowa, Michigan or New York! 

Such was the written statement of the chief officer of 
the Chicago Conspirators in Council, as reliable infor- 
mation to the members of the Order. It came from 
one of the most intelligent men of the Supreme 
Council, who had ample facilities for learning the facts, 
with no conceivable motive for deception, and may be 
received as truth. " 

Had so formidable an accession to the enemy's forces 
been suddenly made on land and lakes at that period, 
the disastrous effect upon the cause of the Union 
would have been great indeed! Can any reasoning 
mind for a single moment suppose that the liberation of 
the prisoners of war, and the general uprising of the 
treasonable Order, would have involved in ruin^ only 
the city of Chicago? 

Hearts inflamed with hate, and hands imbued with 
the life-blood of scores of human victims, are not 
satiated, but are infuriated by the first flush of success. 
The history of the French Revolution would have 



DURING THE WAR. 161 

been repeated, — its sanguinary scenes re-enacted upon 
American soil! Do you pronounce this the judgment 
of an ahirmist! Hear, as I have heard, within the 
Council halls of the traitors! See, as I have seen, the 
material of which blood-thirsty mobs are made, and 
you will concur in the expressed opinion of Maj. Gen. 
Joseph Hooker, Gen. Paine, Gen. Burnett, Gen. 
Sweet, Gov. Yates, Gov. Morton and others who knew 
the facts. 

" It was impossible" said U. S. Senator Arnold in 
his letter to me, to believe that anything so monstrous 
could exist in our midst!" But later he believed. It 
was impossible for others to believe such terrible alle- 
gations, till the evidence before the Military Commis- 
sion of the land established the facts. 

I shall never forget how I was startled — how my 
blood was chilled with horror and amazement, when 
for the first time, I saw in the Council of conspirators, 
a man whom I had esteemed the personification of 
honor and noble manhood, — so esteemed by many of 
the best citizens of Chicago, — that man holding the 
office of Grand Seignior — the chief officer of the 
treasonable body, presiding over men who were armed 
with weapons to kill my comrades at the Camp, — to 
kill my fellow citizens in Chicago, and worse than all, 
to destroy our country! He made the report upon the 
numerical strength of the Order. 

Had these men any grievance from which they had 
vainly sought redress? Had any right of theirs been 
invaded? Had they any provocation for the perpetra- 
tion of monstrous crimes against humanity and the law? 



162 THE GREAT TREASON PLOT 

None, and none were liable to ensue! When was 
assassination, arson, piracy or pillage regarded by civili- 
zation as justifiable! The flag of the free waved over 
them and their homes, a symbol and pledge of protec- 
tion and justice, even while they were conspiring to 
draggle it in the dust! Do numbers make crime 
respectable? Then open wide the doors of all the 
penitentiaries in the land, and with the exodus of 
villains through the portals, christen them all as respect- 
able, — worthy of popular esteem and public honors! 

Crime is crime ^ whether perpetrated by one man or 
a million of men! Liberty is not a synonym of defiance 
of the nation's sovereign law, nor is it license for 
crime! 

I have endeavored to point out the great hidden dan- 
gers of our country in the most eventful period of her 
history. I seek in vain for apology for the men who 
composed the treasonable organization. Mistakes and 
follies we may pardon; differences of opinion, we may 
respect, and open opposition in vindication of supposed 
right, we may encounter without hatred ; but for secret 
leagues for the perpetration of monstrous crimes against 
the country and against humanity, there is no excuse to 
be presented! While we can well understand why the 
malefactors may desire silence, and have even sought 
by their own peculiar and tried means to insure it, the 
worthy and honorable, in every community, will con- 
demn the evil that was done, and the evil it was pro- 
posed to do! 

To my countrymen, I present the facts — they shall 
find the verdict! Well will it be, if we profit by the 



DURING THE WAR. 163 

lesson, and teach our children that the perpetuity, great- 
ness, prosperity, glory and happiness of the nation 
depend upon the morality, intelligence, unity and 
patriotism of the people. 



CHAPTER XV. 
The "Chicago Conspiracy" — The story as 

TOLD BY A magazine WRITER DETAILS OF 

THE PROPOSED ATTACK UPON THE . CaMP LeT- 

tp:r from Gen. Sweet concerning the matter 
— The Chicago Tribune pictures the horrors 
to follow the release of the prisoners in 
Camp Douglas, horrors scarcely paral- 
leled IN Savage history — The majority 

PROBABLY OF THE CONSPIRATORS WERE FOREIGN- 
ERS. 

The following extract from an article in the Atlantic 
Monthly of July, 1865, while it gives evidence that the 
writer was not aware of the extent of the great Trea- 
son Plot in the North, nor of the malignity, scope and 



164 THE GREAT TREASON PLOT 

varied purposes of the Order, will nevertheless possess 
interest as bearing upon our subject, and so far as here 
presented is entitled to full credence: *'On the eve of 
the last general election the country was startled by the 
publication of a report from the Judge Advocate of the 
United States disclosing the existence of a wide-spread 
conspiracy which had for its object the overthrow of 
the Union. This conspiracy, the report stated, had a 
military organization, with a commander-in-chief, gen- 
eral and subordinate officers, and Jive hundt'ed thou- 
sand enrolled members. The organization was in every 
way hostile to the Union and friendly to the so-called 
Confederacy." Startling and incredible as the report 
seemed, it fell short of telling all the truth. The writer 
sets forth in a general way the designs of the conspira- 
tors upon Camp Douglas, and states that the prisoners 
of war therein being released would be a nucleus about 
which conspirators in other parts of Illinois could 
gather, and, being joined by prisoners liberated from 
other camps, and members of the Order, would form an 
army of a hundred thousand strong. The United 
States could bring into the field no force capable of 
withstanding the progress of such an army. 

Col. B. J. Sweet, Commandant of Camp Douglas, 
wrote Maj. Gen. Hooker, under date of August 12th, 
1864: — "I have the honor respectfully to report in re- 
lation to the supposed organization at Toronto, Canada, 
which was to come here in squads, then combine and 
attempt to rescue the prisoners of war at Camp Doug- 
las, that there is an armed organization in this city of 
live thousand men, and that the rescue of our prisoners 



' DURING THE WAR. 165 

would be the signal for a general insurrection in In- 
diana and Illinois. There is little, if any, doubt that an 
organization hostile to the Government, and secret in 
its workings and character, exists in the States of In- 
diana and Illinois, and that this organization is strong in 
numbers. It would be easy, perhaps, at any crisis in 
public affairs, to push this organization into acts of open 
disloyalty, if its leaders should so will." 

The writer quoted, in speaking of Jacob Thompson, 
says of the proposed uprising : " Months before the 
plot had been concocted, and in May, Thompson, sup- 
plied with $350,000, had been sent to Canada. This 
money was in bank at Montreal, and had furnished the 
funds which fitted out the abortive expeditions against 
Johnson's Island and Camp Douglas. The plot em- 
braced the Order of "American Knights" (Sons of 
Liberty) which was spread all over the West, and num- 
bered 500,000 armed men. A force of 1,200 men — 
Canadian refugees and bushwhackers from Southern Ill- 
inois and Missouri — was to attack Camp Douglas on 
Tuesda}^ night, the 8th of November, liberate and arm 
the prisoners and sack Chicago. This was to be the 
signal for a general uprising throughout the West, and 
for a simultaneous advance by Hood upon Nashville, 
Buckner upon Louisville, and Price upon St. Louis. 

Vallandigham was to head the movement in Ohio, 
Bowles in Indiana and Walsh in Illinois. The forces 
were to rendezvous at Dayton and Cincinnati, Ohio, 
New Albany and Indianapolis, in Indiana, and Rock Is- 
land, Chicago and Springfield, Illinois; and those gath- 
ered at the last named place, after seizing the arsenal, 



166 THE GREAT TREASON PLOT 

were to march to aid Price in taking St. Louis. Prom- 
inent Union citizens and officers were to be seized and 
sent South, and the more obnoxious of them were to be 
assassinated. 

All places taken were to be sacked and destroyed, 
and a band of a hundred desperate men was organized 
to burn the larger Northern cities not included in the 
field of operations. Two hundred Confederate officers 
who were to direct the military movements had been in 
Canada, but were then stationed throughout the West, 
at the various points to be attacked, waiting the out- 
break. Capt. Hines, who had won the confidence of 
Thompson by his successful management of the escape 
of John Morgan, had control of the initial movement 
against Camp Douglas; but Col. Grenfell, assisted by 
Col. Marmaduke and a dozen other rebel officers, was 
to manage the military part of the operations. All of 
these officers were at that" moment in Chicago waiting 
the arrival of the men, who were to come in small 
squads over different railroads, during the following 
three days. 

The writer says of Grenfell— " He looks a reckless, 
desperate character, and has an adventurous history. In 
battle, he is said to be a thunderbolt — lightning har- 
nessed and inspired with the will of a devil. He is just 
the character to lead the dark, desperate expedition on 
which they are entered." Of Hines he says — " at his 
right sits another tall, erect man of about thirty, with 
large prominent eyes, and thin black hair and mous- 
tache. He is of dark complexion, has a sharp, thin 
nose, a small close mouth, a coarse, harsh voice, and a 



DURING THE WAR. 167 

quick, boisterous manner. His face tells of dissipation, 
and his dress shows the dandy; but his deep, clear eye 
and pale, wrinkled forehead denote a cool, crafty intel- 
lect. This is the notorious Capt. Hines, the right-hand 
man of Moro^an." 

Grenfell and Hines thus explained to J. T. Shank 
(detective) the plan of operations of the proposed 
attack upon Camp Douglas: — 

" Two hundred rebel refugees from Canada and a 
hundred " Butternuts " from Fayette and Christian 
Counties, have already arrived; many more from Ken- 
tucky and Missouri are coming; and by Tuesday, 
[November 8th, 1S64] they expect that a thousand or 
twelve hundred desperate men, armed to the teeth, will 
be in Chicago. Taking advantage of the excitement 
of election-night, they propose with this force to attack 
the Camp and prison. It will be divided into five par- 
ties. One squad under Grenfell will be held in reserve 
a few hundred yards from the main body, and will 
guard the large number of guns already provided to arm 
the prisoners. Another command offered to the Texan 
[J. T. Shank] will assault the first gateway, and en- 
gage the attention of the eight hundred troops quar- 
tered in Garrison Square. The work of this squad will 
be dangerous, for it will encounter a force four times 
its strength, well armed and supplied with artillery, 
but it will be speedily relieved by the other divisions. 
Those under Marmaduke, Col. Robert Anderson, 
of Kentucky, and Brig. Gen. Charles Walsh of Chicago, 
Commander of the " American Knights'' will simul- 
taneous. y assail three sides of Prison Square, break 



168 THE GREAT TREASON PLOT 

down the fence, liberate the prisoners, and taking the 
garrison in the rear, compel a general snrrender. 

This accomplished, small parties will cut telegraph- 
wires and seize railways, while the main bod}-, rein- 
forced by the prisoners will march into the city and 
rendezvous in Court House Square, which will be the 
base of further operations. 

The first blow struck, the insurgents will be joined 
by the five thousand Illini [Sons of Liberty] and seiz- 
ing the arms of the city — six brass field pieces, and 
eight hundred Springfield muskets, and the arms and 
ammunition stored in private warehouses, will begin the 
work of destruction. The banks will be robbed, the 
stores gutted, the houses of loyal men plundered, the 
raihvay stations, grain elevators, and public buildings 
burned to the ground. To facilitate this latter design, 
the water-plugs have been marked, and a force detailed 
to set the water running. In brief, the war will be 
brought home to the North; Chicago will be dealt with 
like a city taken by assault, given over to the torch, the 
sword and the brutal lust of a drunken soldiery. On it 
will be wreaked all the havoc, the agony and the deso- 
lation which three years of war have heaped upon the 
South, and its rising flames will be the torch that shall 
light a score of other cities to the same destruction." 

Col. Sweet, in a dispatch to the General of the 
Department on Sunday evening, November 6th, 1864, 
says: " My force is, as you know, too weak and much 
overworked — only eight hundred men, all told, to guard 
13,000 prisoners. I am certainly not justified in wait- 
ing to take risks, and mean to arrest these ofiicers, if 



po 



ssible before mornins:." 



DURING THE WAR. 169 

Col. Sweet, after his official report to Gen. Cook, 
under date of November yth, 4 o'clock a. m., says: 
" Adopting measures which proved effective to detect 
the presence and identify the persons of the officers and 
leaders, and ascertain their plans, it was manifest that 
they had the means of gathering a force considerably 
larger than the little garrison then guarding the prison- 
ers of war at Camp Douglas, and that taking advant- 
age of the excitement, and the large number of persons, 
who would ordinarily fill the streets on, election night, 
they intended to make a night attack on and surprise 
this Camp, release and arm the prisoners of war, cut 
the telegraph-wires, burn railroad depots, seize the 
banks and stores containing arms and ammunition, take 
possession of the city, and commence a campaign for 
the release of other prisoners of war in the States of 
Illinois iand Indiana, etc., thus organizing an army to 
effect and give success to the general uprising, so long 
contemplated by the " Sons of Liberty." 

The Chicago Tribune of November 8th, 1864, said: 
"A shiver of genuine horror passed over Chicago 
yesterday. Thousands of citizens who awoke to the 
peril hanging over their property and their h.ads in the 
form of a stupendous foray upon the city from Camp 
Douglas, led by Rebel officers in disguise, and Rebel 
guerrillas without disguise, and concocted by home 
Cop^oerheads, whose houses had been converted into 
Rebel arsenals, were appalled as though an earthquake 
had opened at their feet. 

Who can picture the horrors to follow the letting 
loose of thirteen thousand Rebel prisoners upon a sleep- 



^ ii F*^ i Wri w jy 




,Tvx- '^i*i 






W^ 



S;^:;^^ 



>f. 



.sJirvst - 




MRS. SURRATT'S BOARDING HOUSE, 
Headquarters of the Assassins, Washinsjton, D. C. 



t 



DURING THE WAR. 171 

ing city, all unconscious of the coming avalanche? 
With arms and ammunition stored at convenient loca- 
tions, with confederates distributed here and there, 
ready for the signal of conflagration, the horrors of the 
scene could scarcely be paralleled in savage history. 
One hour of such a catastrophe would destroy the 
creations of a quarter of a century, and expose the homes 
of nearly two hundred thousand souls to every conceiv- 
able form of desecration." 

More arrests were made, more arms taken; but the 
great blow was struck and the great work over. The 
conspiracy was dead, yet even as it lay in death, men 
shuddered to look on the hideous thing, out of which 
had gone so many devils.* 

It is a most remakable phase of human character — 
most deplorable and alarming, that in our country, en- 
joying as it does the broadest liberty, in its highest 
acceptation, and blest with noblest institutions for the 
mental and moral elevation of the people, that a million 
of men could have banded themselves together by oaths 
and death penalties, for the purpose of destroying our 
country — reducing to anarchy, chaos and confusion, 
with its train of horrors, the glorious fabric devised by 
the wisest and best of men, and constructed by heroes 
and statesmen who gave their life-blood a sacrifice upon 
their Country's altar. 

* In several instances, newspaper writers have given to the public erroneous 
and g'arbled statements of incidents aud narration of hearsay stories relating 
to the Conspiracy, which have so little truth and so much fiction, it is proper 
to state that aside from official reports and the testimony before the Military 
Commissions, no authentic information of the least importance has hitherto 
been published, nor has it been possible for any other person than Col. Ayers 
to present a comprehensive and complete narrative of this most important 
chapter of our national (history, now given for the first time in compliance 
with repeated requests of hosts of the Grand Army of the Republic and other 
eminent men of the nation. 



172 THE GREAT TREASON PLOT 

Careful and important investigation of the facts show 
that the great Conspiracy was largely the work of the 
foreign element of our population; that the most malig- 
nant conspirators were a commingling of anarchists and 
other persons from the worst classes of Europe — per- 
sons of very limited experience and observation of the 
excellence of our republican institutions, and utterly dis- 
qualified by ignorance, modes of life and base associa- 
tions, if not by intellectual capacity for appreciating the 
blessings and attractions of the land to which they had 
come from abodes of squalid misery, want and woe, and 
hopeless degredation. 

It is a truth that the most virulent, disloyal news 
journals and public prints in the North, and especially 
in States cursed with the greatest number of conspira- 
tors were conducted by foreigners. 

It is a truth that the greater number of Military com- 
manders of the treasonable Order were foreigners. 

It is a truth that the officer in command of the Con- 
spirators in Chicago, who declared his intent to raise 
the black flag and kill every Union soldier in the Camp 
and city, was ?l foreigner . 

It is a truth that the Brigadier General of the Con- 
spirators in Chicago, who had concealed immense num- 
bers of fire arms and munitions of war in every ward of 
Chicago, to be used against the citizens, was ?i foreigner. 

It is equally true that the conspirator Kennedy who 
was hung in New York for attempting to burn that 
city was also a foreigner. 

It is true that the great majority of the expedition 
who attempted to capture the United States steamer 



DURING THE WAR. 178 

" Michigan " in Sandusky Bay, were also Joreigners. 

It is also true that the man who introduced into the 
Conspirators' Council in Chicago the proposal to raise 
$50,000 for the person who would assassinate President 
Lincoln was a foi'eig'7ie7'. 

And I might cite many other instances to verify the 
statement that probably a majority of the million of 
Conspirators were foreigne7's. 

It may here be recorded as notable facts that Guiteau, 
the assassin, and an anarchist hung in Chicago were 
both members of the Chicago Temple of conspirators. 

The above facts are significant indeed — facts which 
it is but justice to our countrymen to state, and which 
are surely deserving the gravest consideration of all 
patriotic people. 



9iorI^ 




FORD'S THEATRE. 
Where President Lincoln was shot, Washington, D. C. 



DURING THE WAR. 176 



CHAPTER XVI. 
Treason and Pestilential leaven of disloy- 
alty — Brilliant and Eloquent Paragraphs 
OF patriotic sentiment — Arrest, trial and 
sentence of Clement L. Vallandigham, 
" Supreme Commander " of the " Sons of Lib- 
erty" in the United States — Gen. Burn- 
side's FAMOUS "General Order No. 38" — A 

WARNING TO TRAITORS, THAT REQUIRED NO INTER- 
PRETATION — Order for arrest of Vallandig- 
ham — How the order was executed —The 

CRY OF distress, OcOON GIVEN BY THE "SuPREME 

Commander" in vain — Too many "Boys in 
Blue " — Trial, Conviction and Sentence — 
Commuted by the President of the United 
States — Application for writ of Habeas 
Corpus refused — Vallandigham sent beyond 



176 THE GREAT TREASON PLOT 

" THE LINES " — Cool reception in "Dixie" — 
Residence in Canada — Partisan Rancor in 
THE North during the war — Why IJnion sol- 
diers fired the salute p^or the Presidential 
nomination — The famous St. Albans Raid. 

" No man is free from guilt who has apologies for 
treason." President Johnson said, and his words 
should find an echo in the heart of every man: "The 
time has arrived, my countrymen, when the American 
people should be taught what crime is, and that treason 
is crime, — the highest crime known to the law and the 
Constitution. Yes, treason against a State, treason 
against all the States, treason against the Government 
of the United States, is the highest crime that can be 
committed. Treason must be made odious. In the 
words of a former Senator of the United States, " when 
traitors become numerous enough, treason becomes 
respectable." 

Rev. Dr. Tiffany of Chicago, in an eloquent address 
upon the assassination of President Lincoln, said — "We 
felt secure because the loyalists were more numerous 
than the traitors. But of the few who were here, and 
tolerated here, some plotted the escape of rebel prison- 
ers, some the burning of our city, some the conflagra- 
tion of New York, and some the murder of the cabi- 
net, while one has killed our good President. Had 
they all been driven out, or put under strict surveillance, 
there would have been none of these things from them. 
We have lost our President by tolerating traitors in our 
streets." 



DURING THE WAR. 177 

"Stretclied out huge in length the arch-fiend lay 
Chained on the burning lake; nor ever thence 
Had risen or heaved his head, but that the will 
And high permission of All-ruling Heaven 
Left him at large to his own dark designs; 
That with reiterated crimes he might 
Heap on himself damnation while he sought 
Kvil to others." 

A brief account of the arrest, trial and sentence of 
Clement L. Vallandigham, Supreme Commander of 
the "Sons of Liberty, " will doubtless prove of interest 
to the reader, not only as to the man, but in relation to 
Maj. Gen. Burnside when in command of the Depart- 
ment of the Ohio, which comprised the States of Ken- 
tucky, Ohio, Indiana, Illinois and Michigan — States in 
which there were in 1S64 collectively more than a 
quarter of a million conspirators connected with the 
"Sons of Liberty." In the Spring of 1863 evidence 
enough reached the General commanding to warrant 
him, as he believed, in Issuing the notable order of 
which the following is a true copy : 

Headquarters Department of the Ohio, 

Cincinnati, Ohio, April 13, 1863. 



General Order ) 



No. 38. 

The commanding General publishes for the infor- 
mation of all concerned, that hereafter all persons found 
within our lines who commit acts for the benefit of 
the enemies of our country will be tried as spies or 
traitors, and if convicted will suffer death. This order 
includes the following class of persons: 

Carriers of secret mails; Writers of letters sent by 
secret mails; Secret recruiting officers within the lines 



178 THE GREAT TREASON PLOT 

Persons who have entered into an agreement to pass 
our lines for the purpose of joining the enemy; Persons 
found concealed within our lines belonging to the 
service of the enemy, and in fact, all persons found 
improperly within our lines, who could give private 
information to the enemy; all persons within our lines 
who harbor, protect, conceal, feed, clothe, or in any 
way aid the enemies of our country. 

The habit of declaring sympathies for the enemy 
will not be allowed in this Department. Persons com- 
mitting such offences will be at once arrested, with a 
view of being tried as above stated, or sent beyond our 
lines into the lines of their friends. It must be dis- 
tinctly understood that treason, expressed or implied, 
will not be tolerated in this Department. All officers 
and soldiers are strictl}^ charged with the execution of 
this order. 

By command of Major General Burnside. 

Lewis Richmond, 
Official: Assistant Adjutant General. 

D. R. Larned, Captain and Assistant Adjutant Gen- 
eral." 

Oi'der of Arrest. 

' Headquarters Department of the Ohio. 
Cincinnati, May 4, 1S63. 
Capt. Chas. G. Hutton, A. D. C, Etc., 

Captain— ^You will proceed at once to Dayton, Ohio^ 
by special train, and cause the arrest of the Hon. Clem- 
ent L. Vallandigham, after which you \n\\\ return at 
once to these headquarters. You will confer with the 



DURING THE WAR. 179 

Provost Marshal, who will await 3'our arrival at Day- 
ton, and see that the arrest is made as quietly as possible. 
Captain Murray will accompany you and will render 
you any assistance you may request of him. You 
should endeavor to arrive here before daylight tomor- 
row morning. 

By command of Maj. Gen. A. E. Burnside. 

Upon this order Vallandigham "was arrested between 
2 and 3 o'clock a. m. at his house in Dayton, Ohio. His 
residence was surrounded by a force of a hundred sol- 
diers. A demand was made upon Mr. Vallandigham 
to surrender, but as he delayed his appearance, the doors 
were broken in and he was captured. Mr, Vallandig- 
ham gave the cry of distress of the Order, "Ocoon," but 
the presence of so many " boys in blue " had the effect 
to render the few " brethren " of the Order assembled 
deaf to the cry, and the " Supreme Commander " was 
hurried away in compliance with the order of Maj. Gen. 
Burnside. 

A Military Commission was convened in Cincinnati, 
Maj^ 6, 1S63, for the trial of Clement L. Vallandigham 
for language in violation of General Order No. 38, used 
at Mount Vernon, Ohio, about May i, 1863. The 
prisoner was found guilty and sentenced to be placed in 
close confinement in some fortress of the United States, 
to be designated by the commanding officer of the 
Department, there to be kept during the continuance 
of the war. 

"The proC:eedings, finding and sentence are approved 
and confirmed, and it is directed that the place of con- 
finement of the prisoner be Fort Warren, Boston Har- 
bor." By command of Maj. Gen. A. E. Burnside. 



180 THE GREAT TREASON PLOT 

Order of the President. 

U. S. Military Telegraph, 

May 19, 18.63. 
To Maj. Gen. Burnside, commanding Department of 
the Ohio: 

Sir — The President directs that without delay, you 
send C. L. Vallandigham under secure guard, to the 
Headquarters of Gen. Rosecrans, to be put by him be- 
yond our military lines, and that in case of his return 
within our lines, he be arrested and kept in close cus- 
tody for the term specified in his sentence. 

Ed. M Canby, Brigadier General and A. A.J. 
By order of the President. 



On Saturday, May 9, 1863, in the Circuit Court of 
the United States for the Southern District of Ohio, 
Judge Leavitt presiding, an application was made on 
behalf of Hon. Clement L. Vallandigham, for a writ 
of habeas corpus. 

Maj. Gen. Burnside, in his statement to the Court, 
said: " If I were to find a man from the enemy's coun- 
try distributing in my camps speeches of their public 
men that tended to demoralize the troops or to destroy 
their confidence in the constituted authorities of the 
Government, I would have him tried, and hung if found 
guilty, and all the rules of modern warfare would sus- 
tain me. Why should such speeches from our own 
public men be allowed? 

" The press and public men in a great emergency like 
the present, should avoid the use of party epithets and 
bitter invectives, andj discourage the organization of 



DURING THE WAR. 181 

secret political societies which are always undignified 
and disgraceful to a free people, but now they are 
absolutely wrong and injurious; they create dissensions 
and discord, which just now amount to treason. 

" Citizens do not realize the effect upon the army of 
our country, who are its defenders. They have never 
been in the field; never faced the enemies of their coun- 
try ; never undergone the privations of our soldiers in 
the field; and besides they have been in the habit of 
hearing their public men speak, and as a general thing 
of approving what they say; therefore, the greater re- 
sponsibility rests upon the public men and upon the 
public press, and it behooves them to be careful as to 
what they say. They must not use license and plead 
that the}^ are exercising liberty. In this Department it 
cannot be done. I shall use all the power I have to 
break down such license, and I am sure I will be sus- 
tained in this course by all honest men. At all events, 
I will have the consciousness before God of having 
done my duty to my country, and when I am swerved 
from the performance of that duty by any pressure, 
public or private, or by any prejudice, I will no longer 
be a man or a patriot. 

I beg to call upon the fathers, mothers, brothers, 
sisters, sons, daughters, relatives, friends, and neighbors 
of the soldiers in the field to aid me in stopping this 
license and intemperate discussion, which is discourag- 
ing our armies, weakening the hands of the Govern- 
ment and thereby strengthening the enemy. If we 
use our honest efforts, God will bless us with a glori- 
ous peace and a united country. Men of every shade 



182 THE GREAT TREASON PLOT 

of opinion have the same vital interest in the suppres- 
sion of this rebelUon; for should we fail in the task, the 
dread horrors of a ruined and distracted nation will fall 
alike on all, whether patriots or traitors. 

Hon. Aaron F. Perry, in his masterly argument for 
Gen. Burnside, said: '^ The arguments for insurrection 
made in South Carolina are openly repeated in Ohio. 
It is not very long since the Marshal of this district was 
obliged to call for military forces to suppress a revolt 
in Noble County in this wState (Ohio), still later was a 
military force necessary to save Dayton from the 
ravages of a similar revolt. In numerous instances in 
Indiana military force has been necessary. These are 
all iinofers of the same hand. Your Honor does not 
forget how recently the records of this Court were 
removed in order to save them from the contingencies 
of an invasion by insurrectionary forces. 

This Court is sitting in garrison. General Wright, who 
was first sent to command this Department, Vv^as a man 
eminent for military science and clear abilities. The 
next commander sent us is Gen. Burnside of Hatteras 
Inlet, of Roanoke Island, of Newbern, of South 
Mountain, of Antietam, of Fredericksburg — a General 
not inferior in ability, nor second to any other in the 
affections of his countrymen. With him comes that 
famous army corps, young in organization, but already 
old in sacrifices and in glory. Next in command, for 
Ohio, they send us the very Bayard of American Vol- 
unteers, whose cool heroism at South Mountain 
was looked upon as an ample response to the high 
expectations formed of him from his accomplishments 



DURING THE WAR. 183 

and previous services, and who crowned them all at 
Antietam Creek by performing there, with Ohio troops, 
trained under his own eye, a feat of arms fit to be com- 
pared with the far-famed passage of the Bridge of 
Lodi. If the Government can afford such Generals for 
the safe places, what can it afford to the dangerous 
places? 

Why are these men here? Have they at any time, 
since the war begun, sought any other but the place of 
danger? They are here — they are sent here for war, — 
to lay the same military hand upon this insurrection 
wherever they can find it, in small force or large force, 
before them or behind them, which they have laid upon 
it elsewhere. They are not here to cry peace, when 
there is no peace; not here to trifle with danger, or to 
be trifled with by it. They are patriot Generals, com- 
manding forces in the field in the presence of the enemy, 
constrained by their love of country, and in the fear of 
God only, to strike. 

Are they to fold their arms and sleep, while the in- 
citements to insurrection multiply around them, and 
imtil words shall find their way to appropriate acts? 
Are they to wait until the wires shall be cut, railroad 
tracks torn up, and this great base of supplies, this 
great thoroughfare for the transit of troops, this great 
center and focus of conflicting elements is in a blaze, 
before they can act? Must they wait until apprehended 
mischief shall become irremediable before they can 
attempt a remedy? Traitors and abettors of treason 
would everywhere answer " Yes!" I seem to hear a 
solemn accord of voices rising from the graves of the 



184 THE GREAT TREASON PLOT 

founders of the Constitution saying ''• No! " And I 
seem to hear the response of loyal and true friends of 
liberty everywhere swelling to a multitudinous and 
imperative "Amen!" 

The people know General Burnside by acts, which 
speak louder than words. His principles and motives 
are as visible to them as the shining track of the sun. 
They know him as one of the first, then unheralded by 
fame, to bare his bosom to the bolts of war. They 
know him ag one whose political opinions and prejudices 
were strong against the present Administration, but who 
subordinated these to a sense of the necessity of saving 
the Constitution. They know^ him as one who has 
passed through perils innumerable, and has born with 
equal constancy, victory and defeat; who in all vicissi- 
tudes, has stood as a rock, against which the waves of 
sedition dash and are broken. His acts are his explana- 
tion. He needed and will need no other." The emi- 
nent Counsel thus closed his argument: 

" The question of civil liberty is no longer within the 
arbitrament of our civil tribunals. It has been taken up 
to a higher court, and is now pending before the God 
of Battles. May he not turn away from the sons 
whose fathers he favored! As he filled and strength- 
ened the hearts of the founders of our liberty, so may 
he fill and strengthen ours with great constancy! Now, 
while awaiting the call of that terrible docket, while 
drumbeats roll from the Atlantic Ocean to the Rocky 
Mountains, while the clear sound of bugles reaches far 
over our once peaceful hills and valleys; now, when the 
hour of doom is about to strike, let us lose all sense of 



DURING THE WAR, 185 

individual danger; let us lay upon a common altar all 
private griefs, all personal ambitions; let us unite in up- 
holding the army, that it may have strength to rescue 
from unlawful violence, and restore to us the body of 
the American Union! Above all, O Almighty God! if 
it shall please thee to subject us to still more and harder 
trials; if it be thy will that we pass further down into 
the darkness of disorder, yet may some little memory 
of our fathers move thee to a touch of pity! Spare 
us from that last human degradation! Save! O save us 
from the littleness of being jealous of our defenders. 

OPINION OF THE COURT, BV HON. H. H. LEAVITT, 
JUDGE. 

The Court in refusing the writ of Habeas Corpus, 
took occasion to say: "It is not to be disguised that 
our country is in imminent peril, and that the crisis de- 
mands of every American citizen a hearty support of all 
proper means for the restoration of the Union, and the 
return of an honorable peace. All should feel that no 
evil they can be called on to endure, as the result of war, 
is comparable with the subversion of our chosen gov- 
ernment, and the horrors which must follow from such 
a catastrophe. 

Gen. Burnside had achieved during his brief military 
career a national reputation as a wise, discreet, patriotic 
and brave General. He not only enjoyed the confi- 
dence and respect of the President and Secretary of 
War, but of the whole country. 

It was known that the widely extended department, 
with the military supervision of which he was charged, 



186 THE GREAT TREASON PLOT 

was one of great importance, and demanded great vigi- 
lance and ability in the administration of its military 
concerns. Kentucky was a border state, in which there 
was a large element of disaffection toward the national 
Government, and sympathy with those in rebellion 
against it. Formidable invasions have been attempted, 
and are now threatened. Four of the States have a 
river border, and are in perpetual danger of invasion. 
The enforcement of the late conscription law was fore- 
seen as a positive necessity. In Ohio, Indiana and Illi- 
nois a class of mischievous politicians had succeeded in 
poisoning the minds of a portion of the community with 
the rankest feelings of disloyalty. Artful men, dis- 
guising their latent treason, under hollow pretensions of 
devotion to the Union, were striving to disseminate 
their pestilent heresies among the masses of the people. 
The evil was one of alarming magnitude and threatened 
seriously to impede the military operations of the Gov- 
ernment, and greatly to protract the war. Gen. Burn- 
side was not slow to perceive the dangerous conse- 
quences of these disloyal efforts, and in the exercise of 
his discretion he issued the Order No. 38. 

There is too much of the pestilential leaven of dis- 
loyalty in the community. There is a class of men in 
the loyal states who seem to have no just appreciation 
of the deep criminality of those who are in arms avow- 
edly for the overthrow of the Government. They have 
not, I fear, risen to an}^ right estimate of their duties 
and obligations as American citizens, to a government 
which has strewn its blessings with a profuse hand, and 
is felt only in the benefits it bestows. It may be as- 



DURING THE WAR. 187- 

snmed, I trust, that in most of the Northern States re- 
liable and unswerving patriotism is the rule, and disloy- 
alty and treason the exception. Those who live under 
the protection and enjoy the blessings of our benignant 
government, must learn that they cannot stab its vitals 
with impunity. If they cherish hatred and hostility to 
it, and desire its subversion, let them withdraw from its 
jurisdiction and seek the fellowship and protection of 
those with whom they are in sympathy. If they remain 
with us, w^hile they are not of us, they must be subject 
to such a course of dealing as the great law of self- 
preservation prescribes and will enforce. It is rare, in- 
deed, that a charge of disloyalty will be made upon in- 
sufficient grounds, and I confess I am but little moved 
by the eloquent appeals of those who, while they indig- 
nantly denounce violations of personal liberty, look with 
no horror upon a despotism as unmitigated as the world 
has ever witnessed. I am constrained to refuse the 
writ." 

" Hon." Clement L. Vallandighara w^as then sent 
beyond the lines. 

In the month of May, 1863, as Private S. F. Nunne- 
lee of the Fifty-first Alabama regiment was on picket 
about five miles from Murfreesboro, Tennessee, a Fed- 
eral officer, entirely unattended and carrying a flag of 
truce, rode up and inquired for the officer in com- 
mand, and through him for the colonel of the regi- 
ment. Colonel John D. Webb was on the line, a 
couple of miles to the rear, and Private Nunnelee was 
sent to inform him that the Federals were desirous of 
passing the noted Clement L. Vallandigham within the 




THE SEWARD-BLAINE MANSION. WASHINGTON. D. 
Where Secretary Seward was attacked by the Assassin. 



?'S< 



DURING THE WAR. 189 

Confederate lines, as per order of the Secretary of 
War. This move had been anticipated, as Vallandig- 
ham's sentence had been proniulgated, but the Con- 
federate Government had no desire to accept him. 
Had he come as a recruit for the ranks, he would have 
been welcome, but as a banished politician he was a 
guest whom no one cared to entertain. Colonel Webb 
took his time about riding to the front, and as he got 
there Nunnelee was sent down the highway to inves- 
tigate a second white flag. This was waving above a 
vehicle drawn by one horse and occupied by a Federal 
lieutenant and Vallandigham. The officer was driving, 
and the banished politician was sitting very stiff and 
erect. But few words were passed as the officer drew 
rein. He said to Nunnelee: 

*'Here is Vallandigham, sentenced to banishment." 

And to the great politician he said: 

" Come, I have no time to spare." 

"I protest against this outrage — solemnly protest," 
answered Vallandigham. 

"Yes, but hurry up. I'll take your trunk off. 
Jump down, now — good day." 

And the officer sprang into the vehicle, turned the 
horse around, and went off at a fast trot, leaving Val- 
landigham and the Confederate soldier together on the 
highway. Previous to the war Mr. Nunnelee was 
editor of a paper at Eutaw, and Vallandigham was one 
of its readers. As they stood there the private soldier 
introduced himself and the politician gave him a hearty 
shake of the hand and said: 

" What on earth are you doing here?" 



190 THE GREAT TREASON PLOT 

" In the ranks." 

"And are such men as you fighting in the ranks of 
the Confederate army ?" 

" Thousands of us." 

" Then that settles it — the North can never conquer 
you." 

After some further talk the soldier carried the poli- 
tician's trunk into a deserted negro cabin a quarter of a 
mile away and then went for his Colonel. Webb came 
slowly up and as he dismounted at the hut the banished 
Northerner said: 

"Col. Webb, I am Clement L. Vallandigham, a 
citizen of Ohio and the United States, imprisoned, vili- 
fied and banished from my country for my love of 
liberty and free speech." 

The Colonel stiffly answered : 

" Mr. Vallandigham, as a citizen of Ohio and the 
United States, you are my enemy. As one banished 
for his love of liberty, for which the South is fighting 
.to-day, I bid you welcome to the ASouthern Con- 
federacy." 

They then entered into a general conversation lasting 
about half an hour, at the end of which Private Nunne- 
lee secured a conveyance and Vallandigham and his 
baggage was received inside the Confederate lines. 
The incident made quite a stir at the picket post, and 
could the men have had their way they would have 
headed the man for the Federal line and obliged him 
to return, as they counted far more on muskets than 
speeches to win their cause. 

Later, Vallandigham went to Canada where he lived 



DURING THE WAR. 191 

like a prince, for many months, being lionized both by 
the conspirators in the North, and by the rebels in Can- 
ada, and when he had seen with great delight that the 
Order had increased in numbers sufficiently, and were 
prepared for war, he came boldly back from his exile 
and returned to Ohio, where for reasons best known to 
the authorities, he was suffered to remain unmolested. 
But even a " Supreme Commander," though high 
sounding his title and rank, dwindles to insignificance 
when the legion whom he would have commanded has 
been vanquished and scattered beyond the possibility of 
rally or succor. The "Supreme Commander" was 
heard of no more till called before the Military Com- 
mission as a witness, but he "knew not" and never 
" supposed '' there was or had been a treason plot 
against the Government. 

Gov. Horatio Seymour, of New York, said, under 
date of July i6, 1863 — the very next day after the sup- 
pression of the terrible Draft Riot in New York City, 
in relation to the arrest of Clement L. Vallandigliam, 
Supreme Commander of the Order of Conspirators: 

" The action of the Administration will determine in 
the minds of more than half of the people of the loyal 
states, whether this war is waged to put down rebellion 
at the South, or to destroy the free institutions at the 
North, We look for its decision with the most solemn 
solicitude." 

A copy of resolutions of similar tone and spirit being 
transmitted to President Lincoln, the President replied 
in language terse, forcible, patriotic, logical and unmis- 
takable in meaning; in that able paper the following 
paragraphs occur : 



192 THE GREA.T TREASON PLOT 

"Even In times of peace bands of horse thieves and 
robbL^rs frequently grow too numerous and powerful 
for the ordinary Courts of Justice. But what compar- 
ison in numbers have such bands ever borne to the in- 
surgent sympathizers, even in many of the loyal States? 
Again, a jury too frequently has at least one member 
more ready to hang the panel than to hang the traitor. 
And yet again, he who dissuades one man from volun- 
teering, or induces one soldier to desert, weakens the 
Union cause as much as he who kills a Union soldier in 
battle. Yet this dissuasion or inducement may be so 
conducted as to be no defined crime of which any civil 
court would take cognizance." * * * 

" The man who stands by and says nothing when 
the peril of his Government is discussed cannot be mis- 
understood. If not hindered he is sure to help the en- 
emy; much more if he talks ambiguously — talks for his 
country with ' buts ' and ' ifs' and 'ands.' * * * In 
view of these and similar cases, I think the time not 
unlikely to come when I shall be blamed for having 
made too few arrests, rather than too many. * * * 
Mr. Vallandigham avows his hostility to the war on the 
part of the Union; and his arrest was made because he 
was laboring.^ with some effect, to prevent the raising of 
troops, to encourage desertion from the army; and 
to leave the rebellion without an adequate military 
force to suppress it. He was not arrested because he 
was damaging the political prospects of the Adminis- 
tration, or the personal interests of the Commanding 
General, but because he was damaging the army, upon 
the existence and vigor of which the life of the Nation 
depends. 



DURING THE WAR. 193 

"He was warring upon the military, and this gave the 
mihtary constitutional jurisdiction to lay hands upon 
him. If Mr. Vallandigham was not damaging the mil- 
itary power of the country, then his arrest was made on 
mistake of fact, which I would be glad to correct on 
reasonable satisfactory evidence. *. * * Long ex- 
perience has shown that armies cannot be maintained 
unless desertion shall be punished by the severe penalty 
of death. The case requires and the law and the Con- 
stitution sanction this punishment. Must I shoot a sim- 
ple-minded soldier boy who deserts, while I must not 
touch a hair of a wily agitator who induces him to 
desert? This is none the less injurious when effected 
by getting a father, a brother, or friend, into a public 
meeting, and there working upon his feelings until he 
is persuaded to write the soldier boy that he is fighting in 
a bad cause, for a wicked Administration of a contempt- 
ible Government, too weak to arrest and punish him if 
he shall desert. I think that in such a case, to silence 
the agitator and to save the boy, is not only constitu- 
tional, but withal a great mercy. 

" I can no more be persuaded that the Government 
can Constitutionally take no strong measures in time of 
rebellion, because it can be shown that the same could 
not be lawfully taken in time of peace, than I can be 
persuaded that a particular drug is not good medicine 
for a sick man, because it can be shown not to be good 
for a well one. Nor am I able to appreciate the danger 
apprehended by the meeting that the American people 
will, by means of military arrests during the rebellion, 
lose the right of public discussion , the liberty of speech 



194 THE GREAT TEEASON PLOT 

and the press, the law of evidence, trial by jury and 
habeas corpus, throughout the indefinite peaceful future 
which I trust lies before them, any more than I am able 
to believe that a man could contract so strong an appe- 
tite for emetics during temporary illness, as to persist in 
feeding upon them during the remainder of his health- 
ful life." * * * 

" In this time of national peril I would have preferred 
to meet you upon a level one step higher than any 
party platform; because 1 am sure that, from such more 
elevated position, we could do better battle for the 
Country we all love than we possibly can from those 
lower ones where, from the force of habit, the prejudices 
of the past, and selfish hopes of the future, we are sure 
to expend much of our ingenuity and strength m find- 
ing fault with and aiming blows at each other. But, 
since you have denied me this, I will yet be thankful, 
for the Country's sake that not all Democrats have done 
so. He on whose discretionary judgment Mr. Vallan- 
digham was arrested and tried is a Democrat, having no 
old party affinity with me; and the Judge who rejected 
the Constitutional view expressed in these resolutions, 
by refusing to discharge Mr. Vallandigham. on habeas 
corpus, is a democrat of better days than these, having 
received his judicial mantle at the hands of President 
Jackson." 

"And still more of all those democrats who are nobly 
exposing their lives and shedding their blood on the 
battle-field, I have learned that many approve the course 
taken with Mr. Vallandigham, while I have not heard 
of a single one condemning it. I can assert that there 
are none such." * * * 



DURING THE WAR. 195 

" One of the resolutions expresses the opinion of the 
meeting that arbitrary arrests will have the effect to 
divide and distract those w^ho should be united in sup- 
pressing the rebellion, and I am specially called on to 
discharge Mr. Vallandigham. I regard this act as at 
least a fair appeal to me on the expediency of exercising 
a Constitutional powder which I think exists. In 
response to such appeal, I have to say it gave me pain 
when I learned that Mr. Vallandigham had been 
arrested — that is, I was pained that there should have 
seemed to be a necessity for arresting him — and that it 
will afford me great pleasure to discharge him so soon 
as I can, by any means, believe the public safety will 
not suffer by it. Still I must continue to do so much as 
may seem to be required by the public safety." 

A. Lincoln. 

PARTISAN RANCOR IN THE NORTH DURING THE 
WAR. 

Not more by open warfare of rebels in the field was 
the life of the Nation menaced than by the teachings of 
traitors, in the privacy of the " Temples," in public 
prints and public harangues, the aim, purpose and effect 
of which was to corrupt to an alarming and dangerous 
extent the public sentiment and public heart, thus in- 
creasing the force, power and agencies of the rebellion 
in the land. With what amazement and horror will 
patriotic people of today read paragraphs from the de- 
bates of a National Convention in Chicago in 1864 — a 
convention called to nominate a Chief magistrate of the 
Nation, and to enunciate the polity and wisdom of th^ 



196 THE GREAT TREASON PLOT 

party, and to give utterance to sentiments which it was 
hoped by the party leaders would awaken echoes in the 
hearts of the people of the Nation; to listen to such ex- 
pressions from such sources, and to turn to the columns 
of an influential news journal, an exponent of the party 
politics, and reaching many thousands of families, instill- 
ing its poison into the hearts of the young and mislead- 
ing the old, and this at the very hour of the Nation's 
greatest peril ! 

Not greater will be the horror of the reader for the 
sentiments expressed, than amazement for the patience 
and forbearance of loyal people, and of the marvelous 
leniency of the authorities — leniency so great as to elicit 
just censure and astonishment. 

But few expressions of the kind need find place upon 
our pages, and these only to prove the wise precautions 
of the commander of the Post in detailing, as he did, 
men to fire the salute for the nomination, with the 
cannon of the camp, for it was known to him as well 
as to Vallandigham that the privately uttered sentiments 
of the " Supreme Council " of conspirators found open 
expression from the " Peace wing " of the convention. 
In view of the exigencies of the hour, it was wiser far 
to hold the fuse and the cannon, than to trust them to 
those most liable to put them to baser uses. 

None can doubt that the assassination of President 
Lincoln was perpetrated through the teaching of the 
conspirators, incited by the harangues of its leaders, and 
the will of the head of the Order, whispered in the 
Councils of members who had made the greatest pro- 
ficiency in the fiendish creed and ritual — an individual 



DURING THE WAR. 197 

true to the obligations imposed upon him by the Order, 
went forth upon his mission of blood!. 

During the debates of the " Peace wing " of the Na- 
tional Convention, 

S. S. Cox said: 

" He had attempted in his own city, a few weeks 
since, to show, in a very quiet way, that Abraham Lin- 
coln had deluged the country with blood, created a debt of 
four thousand million of dollars, sacrificed two millions 
of human lives, and filled the land with grief and 
mourning." 

An impious man, who had listened attentively to his 
remarks, sang out, " G — d d — n him ! " 

*'For less offenses than Mr. Lincoln had been guilty 
of," continued the member, " the English people had 
chopped off the head of the first Charles. In his opin- 
ion, Lincoln and Davis ought to be brought to the same 
block together." 

C. Chauncey Burr, editor of several Copperhead 
New York journals, said : 

"And it was a wonder that they had a Cabinet, and 
men who carried out the infamous orders of the gorilla 
tyrant that usurped the Presidential chair!'' 

Capt. Koontz, of Pittsburg, an ardent McClellan 
leader, said: 

"If Democrats catch Lincoln's bloody spies among 
them, they must cut their d — d throats, that's all! [Ap- 
plause.] It is the duty of every American to vote for 
a peace candidate." 

Baker, of Michigan, said: 

"Let us hurl that usurper from power! Never til 



198 THE GREAT TREASON PLOT 

that day comes when tlie usurper and his victhn meet 
at the judgment seat, can he be punished for his wrongs, 
for his conspiracy against American liberty!" 

Benjamin Allen, of New York, said: 

" The people will soon rise, and if they cannot put 
Lincoln out of power by the ballot., they will by the 
bullet! " [Loud cheers. J 

Mr. Stambaugh, a delegate from Ohio, said: 

" That, if he was called upon to elect between free- 
dom of the nigger and disunion and separation, he 
would choose the latter! " 

" They might search hell over and they could not 
find a worse President than Abraham Lincoln!" 

Hon, Mr. Trainor, of Ohio, said: 

" He would urge the people to be freemen, and hurl 
Abraham Lincoln and his minions from power! " 

Henry Clay Dean said: 

" \\\ the presence of the face of Camp Douglas and 
all the satraps of Lincoln, that the American people 
were ruled by felons! Lincoln has never turned a dis- 
honest man out of office, or kept an honest man in. 
[A voice — 'What have you to say of Jeff. Davis?'] I 
have nothing to say about him. Lincoln is engaged in 
a controversy with him, and I never interfere between 
black dogs!" " He blushed that such a felon should 
occupy the highest place in the gift of the people. Per- 
jury and larceny were written over him as often as w^as 
' One Dollar ' on the one dollar bills of the bank of the 
State of Indiana. (Cries of the ' old villain!') The 
Democracy were for peace." 

W. W. O'Brien, of Peoria, also threatened to try him 



DURING DHE WAS. 199 

as Charles the First was tried, as a tyrant and a traitor, 
and if they found him guilty to hang him. , 

The essential unity of Copperheadism with assassina- 
tion, further appears in the following remarks of Koontz, 
of Pennsylvania: 

" Shall more wives be made widows, and more child- 
ren fatherless, and greater hate be stirred up between 
children of the same glorious constitution? If not, we 
must put our foot upon the tyrant's neck, and destroy it! 
The Democratic government must be raised to power, 
and Lincoln with his Cabinet of rogues, thieves and 
spies, be driven to destruction! What shall we do with 
him?" [A voice — "Send him here, and I'll make a 
coffin for him, d n him! "] 

During the month of February, by Executive clem- 
ency a number of Copperheads were released from con- 
finement in Washington, where they had been placed 
as a measure of public safety. A Chicago daily pub- 
lished, and other Copperhead papers echoed, the follow- 
ing: 

" We submit that this fact should damn this Adminis- 
tration, not only for all time, but, if there be justice 
hereafter, to all eternity. There is not a single civilized 
government in existence to-day, against which can be 
charged a similar display of tyranny. With the title of 
being the freest government of modern ages, we have 
shown ourselves to be one whose disregard of right and 
whose outrageous assumptions of power are only, par- 
alleled in the reign of despots. 

The liberty of fifty men may seem a small affair; but 
the matter has not so much reference to the magnitude 



200 THE GREAT TREASON PLOT 

of the offence, as it has to the principle which underlies 
it. The moment Mr. Lincoln, or Mr. Seward, or any 
other man, dares to deprive one person of his liberty 
without due process of law, that moment has the gov- 
ernment been changed from one of the people to an 
autocracy — a tyranny. If any man to-day is free in 
this country, it is not because he is a good citizen, sur- 
rounded by the protection of the laws, but simply 
because Seward or Lincoln has not chosen to order his 
incarceration. 

The epitaph of posterity upon this people is easily 
anticipated. It will be — died 24,000,000 of whites, 
who lost their liberties and lives in an attempt to give a 
fictitious freedom to 4,000,000 negroes." 

'-'■Sic semper tyrannis P'' exclaims Booth, who has 
read the above article and heard such sentiments, and 
the mission of the conspirators is accomplished. 

Gen. Burnett, Judge Advocate of the Military Com- 
mission who tried the assassins of the President 
and the conspirators in Indianapolis and Chicago, in 
his argument made use of the following language: 

"There seems to have been something, during these 
four years of the nation's trial, that has appeared to 
paralyze the native instincts of the American heart. 
This phantom, this syren of secession with her enticing 
song, seems to have lulled to sleep the better part of 
human nature. At the sound of her voice, and the 
flash of her eye, men have sprung to arms, to grapple 
with the life of the nation, because it was free! They 
have followed, at the beck of the syren, over desolated 
homes; they have trampled over the dead corpses of 



DURING THE WAR. 201 

murdered brothers, and innocent women and children. 
Tliey have blackened the land with desolation, and 
made it the abode of moaning and woe. She has 
blinded, while she has demoralized them. Old men, 
forgetting their white hairs, have joined in the con- 
spiracy at the beck of this phantom, who has taken out 
of the human heart its heaven-born instincts, to plant 
there those of vengeance, and the thirst for blood. 

My tongue falters as I look over this country and see 
bereaved widows and orphans, the white-haired patriots 
that mourn for the first-born, that shall ne'er greet 
them, and those who sit at the desolate hearth, with 
hands upraised, waiting for the knock that will be but 
the death knell of all their hopes; and think that the 
phantom of secession has caused all this! 

Men who were kind fathers, kind husbands and noble 
patriots, have forgotten it all in a day, and have become 
traitors, and inculcated doctrines that have, by the 
hands of fiends, stricken down that patriotic and noble 
leader of the human race. There is something in it 
which no man can comprehend. The doctrines which 
they inculcate harden the heart, and nerve the arm to 
crime, enabling them to commit robbery, arson and 
murder, for all is in her category; and as they commit 
those crimes, they appeal to God for the justness of 
their cause. That is what has deceived these men; it is 
this accursed phantom of secession that has blinded 
their eyes; that has cooled their hearts and filled them 
with vengeance. It is this that has changed and per- 
verted the human instincts, that should have ruled in 
their breasts," 



202 THE GREAT TREASON PLOT 

THE FAMOUS ST. ALBANS RAID. 

The St. Albans raid is not only illustrative of the 
Confederate mode of harrassing the northern border, 
but also evidences the deeds and designs of the conspir- 
ators in the North. 

This raid, which has become so famous in the history 
of this war, was first started by a Texan, named Bracey^ 
belonging to one of the rebel Texan regiments. This 
man for four or five years before the war, had been 
going to one of the schools or colleges (according to his 
own account of himself,) in St. Albans, and was well 
acquainted, both with the city and country, in the 
immediate neighborhood. He gave all the information 
he could, and offered to return there to get more, which 
he, with one or two rebel soldiers did, and obtained all 
the necessary information that would, in any way, aid 
them in their criminal designs. Upon their report, on 
their return to Canada, the fitting out of the expedition 
immediately began — the money, arms, etc., being fur- 
nished by the rebel agents in Montreal or Quebec. Of 
the details of this affair, as carried out, the people have 
been fully advised by the newspapers, and, to all intents 
and purposes, the raid has been a success, or has opera- 
ted in this manner by the winding and twisting course 
of the Canadian law courts, which seem to be actuated 
by no fixed principles, but wavering between the fear 
of the public opinion of the American people, and their 
desire to aid the rebels in overturning the government 
— and had it not been for the sudden turn the war had 
taken, the people along the northern border would 
have been subjected to numerous other and similar raids. 



DURING THE WAR. 208 

The St. Albans raid was only a part of one grand 
scheme of the rebels, for the past two years, to inaugu- 
rate a new mode of warfare entirely beyond the pale 
of that waged by civilized nations, and a relic of the' 
more barbarous ages. 

This new mode of warfare, or incendiarism, as it is 
generally called, was first started by the rebel govern- 
ment, after the fall of Memphis, Tennessee, for the 
purpose of destroying vessels, loaded with government 
property, and cut off the communications of the armies 
in the lower countries, with their depots of supplies; 
with this end in view, companies of men were regularly 
enlisted for this purpose, and after a time, the sympa- 
thies and the aid rendered the rebellion by certain 
classes of people at the North, justified them in extend- 
ing its pernicious effects further North. Companies 
were enlisted and sent through the lines, with orders to 
burn public buildings, army stores, and supplies, when- 
ever they could find them. Thus far, secret agents of 
the rebels were scattered all over the North, in small 
squads, whenever there was a prospect of doing injury 
to the government; and it is to the efforts of these men, 
that the country is indebted for the wholesale destruc- 
tion of steamboat and other property at St. Louis, 
Cairo, arid other places on the western rivers; these 
men performing the incendiary acts frequently upon 
information furnished them by sympathizing friends. 

The public are already aware of the manner in which 
some of these acts of incendiarism terminated, espec- 
ially the attempt of Capt. Kennedy and others, holding 
commissions in the rebel service, to burn New York 



204 THE GREAT TREASON PLOT 

city. If ever a man deserved his fate, Kennedy cer- 
tainly did, and the public, having been saved, unscatlud, 
can never fully realize the enormity of his crime. 
One, knowing, of these men being in the North for 
this purpose, can readily admit the justice of the punish- 
ment awarded them; but upon reviewing all the facts, 
will as readily declare that they were less guilty than 
those citizens of the North, who aided them in their 
designs, by furnishing them information and otherwise 
co-operating with them, even receiving them into their 
families, knowing them to be public enemies, and in 
arms against the country. 



DURING THE WAR. 205 



CHAPTER XVII. 
Treasonable Orders in Relation to the Con- 
scription — Full Details of the Draft Riot. 
Allusion has been made to the terrible outbreak in 
New York — the ever memorable Draft Riot, which by 
a certain class of people was charged upon the " work- 
ing men" of the city! A baser libel or more despic- 
able slander was never uttered. It was known to the 
authorities at Washington, and is known to those now 
living who participated in that horrid affair, either as 
aiders or abettors and directors, or officers of the Gov- 
ernment, that the Riot was incited, countenanced and 
led and urged onward by the secret treasonable Order, 
the "Knights of the Golden Circle "and "American 
Knights." It was not the " working class " who per- 
petrated the overt acts of treason, murder, incendiarism, 
and robbery, but the crimes which shock humanity and 
should forever cover with infamy the names and 
memory of the vile beings really guilty and responsible, 



206 THE GREAT TREASON PLOT 

were plotted and executed by scoundrels who never 
performed honest labor — revolutionists, adventurers, 
disappointed politicians, traitors to their country, theives 
and assassins, high-toned villains as well as " the 
unwashed " who hoped to profit by national disaster 
and ruin of the nation. 

It was deemed expedient by the General Govern- 
ment to enforce the Conscription law as a measure 
indispensable to the life of the nation. Upon the first 
announcement of such purpose, a leading New York 
journal, the World, published the following: 

"Whether the weak and reckless men who tempor- 
arily administer the Federal Government are aware of 
the fact or not, it is undeniably a fact, that the very exis- 
tence of the Government they administer is quite as 
seriously involved in the execution of the conscription 
which they are now putting in force, as it has been in 
any other measure or event of the war. * * # Such 
were the circumstances which attended its final pas- 
sage,* that one might almost have supposed the national 
legislature to be an oligarchic conspiracy plotting a 
vast scheme of military servitude, rather than the Coun- 
cil of a great people giving form to its independent 
determination and organizing its force for the assertion 
of its freedom." 

Many men were discontented and dissatisfied with 
what they regarded as an unnecessary stretch of Gov- 
ernmental control over individual liberty. 

The Provost Marshal of New York City announced 
that the draft would begin on Saturday, the nth of 

♦The Conscription act. 



DURING THE WAR. 207 

July, 1S63, and it began as announced. At first all the 
proceedings passed off peaceably, but during the night 
and the next day, the opposition to the draft increased 
rapidly, marked by excitement that was ominous. 

The worst classes of the city now took up the move, 
ment, and, with that blindness which always character- 
zcs them, resolved unon a forcible resistance to the 



upon 



draft. Meetings were held at various places in the city, 
some openly and some in secret^ but in all the same 
measures were determined upon. It was resolved by 
these Conspirators that the draft should be forcibly 
topped the next day. 

Monday, July 13, the city was full of excitement, and 
those who had resolved upon forcible resistance were 
very active. They sent committees from work shop to 
work shop, etc., to compel the workmen to abandon 
their labors and join the processions forming at different 
points in the city. Matters wore a threatening aspect. 
The processions were led by resolute and desperate 
men, and marched toward the scene of the drafting. 
The office of the Provost Marshal was surrounded by a 
dense crowd at an early hour in the morning, and as 
soon as it was opened was filled by the populace. The 
draft was scarcely resumed when missiles were thrown 
through the windows, doors were broken down, furni- 
ture demolished, and one of the deputies nearly killed. 

The fury of the mob increased and the building was 
set on fire, and the entire block was soon in ashes. An- 
other mob collected down town, and there began acts 
of violence and robbery. The city was almost defence- 
less, most of the troops having been sent to Pennsyl- 



208 THE GREAT TREASON PLOT 

vania. Gen. J. E. Wool, of the regular army, was in 
command of the city, and Maj. Gen. Sandford was com- 
mander of the State troops of the first division, but 
nearly all were in Pennsylvania. Gen. Wool, Gen. 
Sandford and Mayor Opdyke met to devise measures to 
check the riot. There were very few men in the city 
capable of bearing arms who could be relied upon, and 
the forces at the harbor defences and the navy yard 
were small. The city was panic-stricken, and the fury 
of the mob was increasing. The police were called to 
be in readiness, the commandant at the navy yard was 
called on for a detachment of marines, the same demand 
was made upon the commanders of the forts, and the 
condition of affairs telegraphed to Washington and to 
Albany, and veteran volunteers were called into service. 
Meanwhile the mob increased in numbers. Thieves 
and malefactors of the city joined with the Conspira- 
tors, hoping for rich harvests of plunder, and their 
hopes were realized. They gathered in the vicinity of 
Forty-sixth street and Third avenue, and detachments 
of the main body set fire to and plundered several fine 
brown-stone residences on Lexington avenue. While 
this was being done, a detachment of about fifty 
marines from the Brooklyn navy yard, in charge of a 
lieutenant, was seen approaching in a Third avenue car. 
The mob prepared to receive them. Tearing up the 
rails, they rendered it impossible for the car to be drawn 
beyond Forty-third street, and at that point several 
thousand men, women and children stood anxiously 
waiting for the storming party. Many of them, es- 
pecially women, were armed with pieces of heavy tele- 



DURING THE WAR. 209 

graph wire, which they had broken from the Hues, and 
which they used with great effect. 

Such a scene has rarely or never been witnessed 
since the days of the first French Revolution. The men 
were malignant in their appearance, the women were 
merry, singing and dancing like so many fiends, rejoic- 
ing in their deeds of violence, and boasted of what 
should yet be done. As the car reached the center of 
the block, the Lieutenant in command ordered his men 
to form in line. Groups of women and children greeted 
them with hisses and derisive cheers; but the marines 
marched toward the larger mob at the corner. The 
Lieutenant ordered the crowd to disperse, but this was 
sullenly refused. He then ordered his men to fire, 
which they did, with blank cartridges. The smoke 
had not cleared away before the infuriated mob rushed 
with vengeance upon the little band, seized their mus- 
kets, trampled them under foot, beat them with the long 
wires and laughed at their helplessness. Several of the 
marines escaped into the side streets, but each fugitive 
was pursued and a number were killed, and all others 
terribly beaten. 

From this moment, resistance by the mob was no 
longer thought of, attack was their cry. A squad of 
police tried to arrest some of the ringleaders at this 
point, but they were defeated, badly beaten and one of 
the policemen killed. Elated by their success, and 
infuriated by the sight of blood, the mob proposed an 
immediate onslaught upon the principal streets, the 
hotels and other public buildings. 

Then the Colored Orphan Asylum, a KgndsomQ; 



210 THE GREAT TREASON PLOT 

edifice on Fifth Avenue, between 43d and 44th streets, 
was attacked by the mob. The building contained at 
the time between 700 and Soo children. Elated by the 
defeat of the marines and the police, the rioters hurried 
to Fifth Avenue and surrounded the Asylum. The 
doors and windows were broken in, and the rufiians 
rushed into the building, drove the women and nurses 
out, kicked and beat the helpless children, seized every- 
thing they could lift, threw their plunder into the 
streets, where it was carried off by their women, and 
the m.ob then set fire to the building, and it was soon in 
flames. The mob then withdrew to another part of 
the city. 

While this was going on another band of rioters 
made a furious attack upon the State Armory, at the 
corner of Twenty First Street and Second Avenue, in 
the effort to get possession of the arms which the Gov- 
ernment had stored in that building. 

The police were in charge of the premises. The 
mob at this point numbered several thousand men, who, 
finding the building closed against them, broke down 
the doors with sledge-hammers and stones and rushed 
in. The police discharged their pistols, killing two men, 
which caused the mob to fall back for a moment, but 
only to rush in again; then the police fired another vol- 
ley, killing three more men. The rioters rushed upon 
the police and a hand-to-hand fight ensued in which 
the police being outnumbered, were forced to make 
their escape by a back door. The mob then fired the 
building and it was burned to the ground. 

About noon, the office of the Provost Marshal, corner 



DURING THE WAR. 211 

of Broadway and Twenty-Eighth Street, was sacked 
and fired, and the entire block, of which this was the 
center building, w^as destroyed. A demand was made 
upon the proprietor of the famous " Bull's Head Tav- 
ern," on Forty-Fourth Street, between Lexington and 
Fourth Avenues, that he should supply liquor for the 
crowd. Upon his refusal to do so, his house was plun- 
dered and burned to the ground. The residences of the 
Provost Marshal, Postmaster, and other buildings were 
also burnt. 

The mob moved down to City Hall Park where 
their numbers were greatly increased by boys and men 
who had made demonstrations in. front of the Tribune 
office, and now a rush was made at the office, doors 
were burst open, the inmates put to flight, the furniture 
broken and preparations made to firq the building, 
but the police arrived and made a gallant charge upon 
the mob, and drove them off and saved the building. 
This movement of the police was so sudden and vigor- 
ous, that it struck terror to the rioters, and they fled in 
every direction. 

Negroes were the especial objects of the fury of the 
mob. During the day at least a dozen of them were 
brutally murdered. Others were driven into the river, 
beaten, or forced to leave the city. Whenever a negro 
was so unfortunate as to fall into the hands of the mob, 
he was treated with the most savage cruelty. The 
rioters seemed to lose all humanity in dealing with 
the blacks, and toward all their victims, white and 
black, their conduct was most inhuman. 

Throughout tlic day the city was at the mercy of 



212 THE GKEAT TREASON PLOT 

the mob, and but for the police, the damage done would 
have been much greater. 

Among the first acts of the rioters was the destruction 
of nearly all the telegraph-wires leading from the city 
to the Capitol at Albany; thus hoping to cut off means 
of communication between the Governor and munici- 
pal authorities from the Adjutant-General's office in 
Albany, from whence orders for the movement of 
troops would be issued. Every wire was cut, the poles 
thrown for a great distance through the streets, with 
the single exception of one wire, connecting Jerse}^ 
City with New York, through a cable unknown to the 
mob. This wire was owned by the Erie Railroad 
Company and intended for their business alone. The 
Governor took possession of this line and kept it " red 
hot" for three days and nights, transmitting orders for 
his Adjutant General, by the circuitous route from Jer- 
sey City via. Binghamton to Utica, New York, and 
from thence back to Albany, for the organization and 
immediate marching orders of a sufficient force of State 
Militia to quell the disturbance. He at once issued a 
proclamation declaring the City and County of New 
York to be in a state of insurrection. This proclama- 
tion was of no avail, the riot having become too formid- 
able and the rioters too greatly enboldened to be put 
down by aught except superior force. 

On Tuesday, July 14th, the outlook of the city was 
gloomy indeed; the stores were closed, business wholly 
suspended and the citizens were preparing, each one, 
to make such defence of his home and propert}^ as lay 
in his power. The Police had been busy during the 



DURING THE WAR. 213 

night, but It was evident these brave men would not be 
able to contend successfully with the miscreants for 
an indefinite time. Gen. Wool had placed Gen. Har- 
vey Brown in command of the city, and had also given 
the same command to Gen. Sandford, and this confusion 
led to difficulties durmg the day, that were almost fatal 
to the cause of order. 

The commanding officers of the various harbor forts, 
had sent detachments to the place of rendezvous 
appointed by Gen. Sandford, and a small force of mili- 
tia and volunteers had been collected, so that the 
authorities were now in a condition to make some prog- 
ress in restoring order. 

The rioters had been greatly re-inforced during the 
night, however, and early in the morning resumed their 
outrages. They directed their hostility chiefly against 
the negroes. No mercy was shown to the blacks. 
Their neighborhoods were invaded, many buildings 
fired and old men and feeble women beaten most bru- 
tally. Whenever a negro was caught by the rioters, he 
was murdered. 

During the dav Col. O'Brien at the head of a de- 
tachment of his regiment succeeded in dispersing a mob 
on Third Avenue. In the confusion of the charge he 
sprained his ankle, and w^ent to a drug store while his 
command followed up the rioters. After the troops 
passed on, a crowd collected about the store, and the 
proprietor, fearing for his property, requested the Col- 
onel to leave the place. O'Brien complied with this 
inhuman request and went forth alone undaunted into 
the street. He was instantly received by the mob with 



214 THE GREAT TREASON PLOT 

abuse for his course in dispersing their friends. He 
answered them cahnly, and urged them to go home 
and submit to the law; but while speaking, some cow- 
ardly ruffian — as usual with Conspirators — crept behind 
him and struck him a blow, which laid him senseless 
upon the ground. 

The brutal crowd instantly fell upon him and beat 
him unmercifully; and seizing his almost lifeless body, 
dragged it through the streets with shouts and groans, 
for several hours, and finally dragged it in front of his 
residence, where they heaped the most brutal insults 
upon it. A priest of the Catholic church courageously 
forced his way through the crowd, and read over the 
body the prayers for the dying. This done, he ordered 
the remains to be taken into the house, and hastened 
away to another point where he hoped to do good, but 
he had hardly departed when a brutal savage stamped 
upon the corpse, which was also done by many others. 

The Military were very active during the day, 
and several conflicts occurred between them and the 
mob, in which the latter were invariably defeated. A 
crowd of about two thousand men had collected at the 
corner of Grand and Pitt streets. Lieut. Wood, with 
150 regulars from Fort Lafayette, was sent to clear the 
street. Upon reaching the place, he ordered the crowd 
to disperse, and was answered with a volley of paving 
stones. He then caused his men to fire over the heads 
of the rioters, with the hope of intimidating them, but 
this producing no effect, he ordered the troops to fire 
with ball cartridges. Twelve persons were killed and 
several wounded by this discharge, and the rioters fled 



DURING THE WAR. 215 

in every direction. Two children -were among the 
killed. In various parts of the city efforts were made 
by the mob to resist the troops; but as soon as ball cart- 
ridges were used by the latter, all resistance ceased. 

As the crowds would re-assemble immediately after 
being dispersed, the authorities found that it would be 
needful to adopt some more extensive plan of opera- 
tions. The militia regiments which had been sent to 
Pennsylvania had been ordered home by the Secretary 
of War, and other troops were on their way to the city 
from Meade's army, as were also the militia from the 
interior of the State. Still it was necessary to act 
promptly, for much damage might be done b}' the mob 
before this aid could arrive. 

About noon a mob assembled in front of the Tribtme 
office. Gov. Seymour at this moment appeared at the 
steps of the City hall, and the crowd called upon him 
for a speech, with which he complied, and in which he 
said: "I have sent my Adjutant General to Washing- 
ton to confer with the authorities there to have this 
draft suspended aiid stopped. Wait until my Adjutant 
returns from Washington, and you shall be satisfied." 
His speech gave great satisfaction to the rioters. 

During the day of the 15th of July several of the 
regiments returned from Pennsylvania, and these were 
followed the next day by others, and by regiments of 
veterans from Meade's army. The ring leaders of the 
mob were arrested and imprisoned, and their followers 
disheartened and demoralized. The troops, as soon as 
they arrived, were stationed throughout the city, and 
their vigilance and promptness, together with a general 



216 THE GREAT TREASON PLOT 

diffusion of the knowledge that the draft was suspended 
for the time, soon put a stop to the disorder. By the 
night of the i6th of July all organized resistance had 
ceased. The number of persons killed during this ter- 
ble riot is not known. The mortality statistics for 
the week, show an increase of 450 over the average 
weekly mortality for the year. Governor Seymour 
stated in his message that the number of killed and 
wounded is estimated to be at least one thousand. 

The draft was suspended in New York city upon 
the filling of the city's quota by volunteers, but it was 
the purpose of the Government to enforce it in other 
parts of the state. The Governor asked the President 
to suspend the draft until the constitutionalitv of the 
Conscription law could be determined by the Courts, to 
which President Lincoln replied — " I cannot consent to 
suspend the draft in New York as you request, because, 
among other things, time is too important." * * "I 
do not object to abide a decision of the United States 
Suprenie Court, or of the Judges thereof, on the Con- 
stitutionality of the draft law. In fact, I shall be will- 
ing to facilitate the obtaining of it, but I can not con- 
sent to lose the time while it is being obtained. 

"We are contending with an enemy who, as I under- 
stand, drives every able bodied man he can reach in 
his ranks, very much as a butcher drives bullocks into 
a slaughter pen. No time is wasted, no argument is 
used. This produces an army which will soon turn 
upon our now victorious soldiers already in the field, 
if they shall not be sustained by recruits as they should 
be. It produces an army with a rapidity not to be 



DURING THE WAR. 217 

matched on our side, if we first waste time to re-experi- 
ment with the vokinteer system, ah"eady deemed by 
Congress, and palpably, in fact so far exhausted as to 
be inadequate; and then more time to obtain a Court 
decision as to whether a law is Constitutional which 
requires a part of those not now in the service to go to 
the aid of those who are already in it; and still more 
time to determine with absolute certainty that we get 
those who are to go in the precisely legal projDortion 
to those who are not to go. 

" My purpose is to be in my action just and constitu- 
tional and yet practical, in performing the important 
duty with which I am charged, of maintaining the 
unity and the free principles of our Common Country." 

Your Obedient Servant, 

A. Lincoln." 

There can be no doubt in the mind of any candid 
and intelligent person Vv^ho has carefully read and as 
carefully considered that the Draft Riot grew directly 
out of the teachings of the copperhead prints, while to 
the writer and to the Judge Advocate General, and 
indeed to others who, from the most careful investiga- 
tion and personal observation, learned beyond the pos- 
sibility of a doubt that the Riot was incited, count- 
enanced and directed by the leaders of the "Temples," 
and the "Grand" and "Supreme Councils" of the 
Order " Knights of the Golden Circle," alias "Ameri- 
can Knights," and upon them must ever rest the terri- 
ble crimes which they, and men of like ilk, would fain 
charge upon the " working men " of our country from 
whose patriotic hearts and muscles of steel, and endurance 



218 THE GREAT TREASON PLOT 

acquired by honest toil, the nation is largely and chiefly 
indebted for its very existence today and for that power, 
perpetuity, glory and honor won and forever assured 
by their patriotism and their valor. 



CHAPTER XVIII. 
Assassination of President Lincoln — Assault 
UPON Secretary Seward— New and import- 
ant FACTS — Plot laid in the North and 
South simultaneously — Buildings made nota- 
ble BY assassins — The plot to kidnap the 
President changed to Assassination of the 
President, Vice President and Cabinet. 

The story of the assassination is so generally known 
that a condensed record of the more prominent facts 
will sufKce: 

On the, evening of April 14, 1S65, the President 
accompanied by his wife and a party of friends attended 
Ford's Theater in Washington. Soon after ten o'clock, 
as the play drew near its close, John Wilkes Booth, a 
well-known actor stole into the box occupied by the 
President and shot him through the brain. 



DURING THE WAR. 219 

Mr. Lincoln was conveyed to a house near the theater, 
where he lingered in a comatose condition till morning 
and died. 

Thus in darkness closed the career of the great, 
prudent, far-seeing, resolute, just, patient and tender- 
hearted Lincoln — a man, the record of whose daily life 
in public or private, will be the highest eulogium of the 
virtues, the genius, and the wisdom that has made his 
name immortal, and for all time hallowed it in the 
hearts of his countrymen, and the worthy throughout 
the world, 

" He had been born a destined work to do, 

And lived to do it; four long-suffering years — 
Ill-fate, ill-feeling, ill-report lived through — 

And then he heard the hissc:s changed to cheers. 
The words of mercy were upon his lips — 

Forgiveness in his heart and on his pen, 
When the vile murderer brought swift eclipse 

To thoughts of peace on earth, good will to men." 

Scarcely had the report of the revolver startled the 
assembled concourse, than Booth sprang from the box 
to the stage, and though he broke a leg in doing so, 
he escaped through the rear entrance of the building, 
near which a fleet horse was held by one Edward 
Spangler, and in an instant of time. Booth and his chief 
accomplice, David E. Herold, were making all speed to 
escape. 

' They fled across Nav}^ Yard bridge, and quickly all 
traces of them were lost, even to the clattering of 
horses' hoofs. 

Many incidents, bearing upon the deed, were related 
by the excited throng. It had been observed by the 
door-keeper, that four or five times during the evening. 



h 




HOUSE IN WHICH PRESIDENT LINCOLN DIED. 



DURING THE WAR. 221 

Booth had entered and retired from the theater without 
speaking to any one, and more than once had been seen 
in the saloon of the theater drinking brandy. 

The city was wild with alarm. Troops of cavalry 
departed in every direction in search of the assassins, 
whose flight was continued, until at last they found 
concealment in a barn near Port Royal on the Rappa- 
hannock, and but for his broken limb and terrible suf- 
fering consequent. Booth would doubtless have made 
good his escape. He was aided by Thomas A. Jones, 
whose fidelit}^ to the assassin was worthy a better cause. 
The pursuers came swiftly, and on the 26th of April 
discovered the fugitives and summoned them to 
surrender, but the demand was defiantly refused, 
when the pursuers set the barn on fire and again 
called upon the men within to surrender without 
a moment's delay. Herold came out, and upon demand 
threw up his arms and was taken prisoner, but Booth 
evidently preferred death by the flames rather than by 
the gallows, and again defiantly answered the order to 
come forth and give himself up; the flames were swift 
and furious and the heat intolerable — perhaps not more 
painful than the swollen and dangling limb, — which he 
bore without a groan. Finally he stepped outside the 
burning building, but only to meet his death by a bullet 
in his neck, from which he died some three hours later. 
The fatal shot was fired by Sergeant Boston Corbett. 

Booth was buried in the arsenal grounds in Washing- 
ton, but later the body was delivered to his brother, 
Edwin Booth, and buried in the family burial grounds, 
Greenmount, Baltimore. 



222 THE GREAT TREASON PLOT 

The assassination plot included President Lincoln, 
Vice President Johnson and every member of the cabi- 
net. At the very time Mr. Lincoln was shot, Lewis 
Thornton Powell, alias Payne, burst into the bed 
chamber of Secretary Seward and stabbed him nigh 
unto death. 

In the trial of the Conspirators, every possible effort 
was made to secure executive clemency for Mrs. Mary 
E. Surratt, in whose house the details of the plot were 
devised, but in vain. It was in evidence that she had 
sent two carbines and a field glass to John M. Lloyd's 
tavern, Surrattsville, which it was believed were 
intended for Booth and Herold. She was convicted 
and sentenced to be hanged. The dying service of the 
Catholic church was administered to her, and she was 
executed. Doubts of her guilt have ever existed in the 
minds of many people who knew her. She was a 
native of Baltimore, Maryland, and in early life was an 
acknowledged belle. In 1S53 she was married to Mr. 
Surratt, who died in 1S62. She then went to Washing- 
ton and leased the house on H street which she kept as 
a boarding house, and which was the headquarters of 
the Conspirators. John Surratt, her son, went to Italy, 
but was brought back for trial, which, however, was 
prevented by the statute of limitation. 

Booth was a Baltimorean by birth, but of English 
descent, and was the last man, perhaps, who would have 
been deemed capable of committing the horrid crime, — 
being a young man of modest bearing, winning man- 
ners and a favorite in high social circles in the North, 
yet often moody, nervous and restless. A few weeks 



DURING THE WAR. 223 

before the assassination he played an engagement at 
Ford's Theater. 

His incoherent and insane letter, handed to the United 
States Marshal in Philadelphia subsequent to the perpe- 
tration of the deed, but written only a few days prior to 
it, was chiefly a rehash of the sentiments and teachings 
of the " American Knights " and " Sons of Liberty " — 
containing whole passages from their ritual, showing 
conclusively his familiarity with these treasonable 
Orders; and whether he committed the deed for the 
price of blood stipulated by the Order, both in the 
South and North, or from love of notoriety, or was a 
victim of monomania by association with anarchists, 
revolutionists and other bad men, or from other incen- 
tive, will never be known with certainty. 

That Booth inherited a mental conformation most 
liable to aberration of mind is possible. The last time 
the elder Booth — his father — played Richard III. in 
this country, he became so absorbed in the part he was 
personating, that to him it was reality, and he would 
surely have slain his adversary, had the frightened actor 
not made a hurried exit from the stage. 

Nothing can be more probable than that Booth 
executed the deadly deed that had been conceived, and 
urged as a duty by the Conspirators in their secret mid- 
night assemblages, and not only there taught but 
expressed publicly by members of the Order upon the 
streets of Chicago, New York and elsewhere, when 
emboldened by the news of Union disasters in the field 
of battle. 



224 THE GREAT TREASON PLOT 

It is not generally known, but it is nevertheless a 
fact, that two months after the time when the Con- 
spirators in Chicago were discussing the subject of 
raising the sum of fifty thousand dollars to reward the 
person who would assassinate the President, a subscrip- 
tion was started in Alabama, and so announced in a 
vSelma, Alabama, news-journal in December, 1864, for 
the purpose of raising funds to incite the assassination 
of the President, Vice President and Secretary Seward 
before inauguration day. For this statement there is 
incontrovertible proof. 

It is the confident belief of the author of this work, 
unshaken by reflection of the years gone by since the 
terrible occurrence, that not only were the treasona- 
ble Orders particeps crimijiis in the assassination, but 
it was proposed and a price set thereon in October prior 
to its perpetration, and was openly discussed in the bit- 
terness of debate at the Democratic National Conven- 
tion by the " Peace faction," as well as in the secret con- 
claves of traitors in Chicago, in Alabama and elsewhere. 

Booth m.et with retribution, while men eminent in 
the treasonable Order who countenanced, encouraged 
and diretly or indirectly incited assassination, both of 
the President of the United States and of many Union 
soldiers, were later honored by appointments and polit- 
ical preferment, that with greater grace, patriotism and 
justice, should have been conferred upon the brave 
"boys in blue," who shed their blood in defense of their 
bleeding country; and those wretches who fattened at 
the public crib have been the most bitter opponents of 
measures for securing common justice in the matter of 



DURING THE WAR. 225 

pensions to the deservinor defenders of the Nation. If 
further evidence in corrohoration of these charges be 
required, "confirmation strong as Holy Writ" will be 
forthcoming, and it is the consciousness by the villains 
that such evidence but waits the summons, that has led 
to repeated attempts to assassinate the writer, and fail- 
ing in this business, in which they and their brethren 
have had much experience, and acquired proficiency, 
they have hissed their vituperation, calumny and venom 
and applied their boycotting for years. 

Judge Advocate, Gen. H. L. Burnett, who tried the 
assassins in Washington, and the Conspirators of Indiana 
and Illinois, wrote: "I have no doubt the accursed 
Order, Sons of Liberty, had much to do in the creation 
of the bitterness which culminated in the assassination 
of President Lincoln." Let the people profit by the 
facts and by the lesson! 

There can be no doubt that the primary purpose and 
plot of Booth and his fellow assassins was to capture 
the President, and take him to Richmond, to be held as 
a hostage in the interest of the Confederacy, and that 
the plot was changed by the influence of the Secret 
treasonable Order, as will appear by an extract from the 
letter of Booth, to which allusion has been made. 

" Most, or many, in the North do, and openly, curse 
the Union. I have of late been seeing and hearing of 
the bloody deeds of which she (the National flag) has 
been made the emblem. Now, in my eyes, her once 
bright red stripes look like bloody gashes on the face of 
Heaven. Nor do 1 deem it a dishonor in attempting to 
make for her (the South) a prisoner of this man to^ 
whom she owes so much of misery." 



226 THE GREAT TREASON PLOT 

David E. Herold, who accompanied Booth in his 
flight, as also Lewis Payne Powell, who assaulted Sec- 
retary Seward, with intent to kill; and George A. At- 
zerodt, a German, who had undertaken to assassinate 
Vice President Johnson, — but had no opportunity to ex- 
ecute his purpose, — were all executed upon the gallows 
July 7, 1865. Of the other Conspirators, Dr. Samuel 
Mudd, Michael O'Laughlin and Samuel Arnold were 
sentenced for life to the Dry Tortugas; and Spangler for 
six years in the same place. Mudd was, after a time, 
pardoned, and is now dead. Serg't Boston Corbett has 
long been an inmate of an insane asylum. 

Lewis Payne Powell, who attempted to kill Secre- 
tary Seward, was born in Alabama in 1845, ''^"^^ ^^^^ 
served in the Confederate army. 

George Atzerodt, a Confederate spy, was to perform 
the same cowardly part in removing Andrew Johnson, 
as Booth had enacted in relation to President Lincoln. 

The story of the assassination is too well known to 
need further notiee here; and has been introduced not 
only for the purpose of recording certain essential facts, 
not generally known, but it forms an important part of 
the Great Treason Plot, evidencing its wide extent and 
the characters who took part in its development and 
execution. 



Directly across the street from Ford's Theater stands 
the house in which President Lincoln died at 7:33 A. 
M. April 15, 1865. The house is now occupied by 
Capt. O. H. Oldroyd, author of " The Words of Lin- 
coln," with the Oldroyd Lincoln Memorial collection of 
nearly 3,000 relics pertaining to the Martyr President. 



DURING THE WAR. 227 

Among the relics is the hat he wore, and the chair in 
which he sat at the theater. 

The old Surratt House stands at 541 H Street, N. 
W., between 6th and 7th streets. What scenes of hor- 
ror does the view of this residence recall! There is 
nothing to attract the attention of the stranger as he 
passes the building — nothing to distinguish it from 
many others, but upon being informed that this was 
the rendezvous of Booth and his fellow conspirators, 
that in the pleasant front room of the second story, look- 
ing into the street, was where the assassination plot was 
discussed by Booth and his young Floridian friend and 
fellow conspirator, Lewis Thornton Powell, alias Payne; 
that there came Dr. Mudd and Michael O'Laughlin, 
and Sam Arnold and David Herold, Ed Spangler, Geo. 
A. Atzerodt and others — sworn conspirators, to ex- 
change ideas and mature the hellish plot, till summoned 
to the tea-table by the landlady, Mrs. Mary E. Surratt 
— when the sightseer hears of this group, several of 
whom went to an ignominious death, and others to life- 
long imprisonment, exiled from home and country, he 
lingers with pallid face and earnest eye, and there is 
impressed upon his brain the lasting remembrance of 
this notable structure. 

The old Seward-Blaine mansion. No. 17 Madison 
Place, opposite Lafayette Square, near the. White 
House, has a history. 

The site of this property, once owned by Henry Clay, 
passed to Commodore Rodgers, who built the mansion 
of which we write. It was afterwards owned by Hon. 
W. H. Seward, and later by Hon. James G. Blaine, 
who died in the mansion. 



228 THE GREAT TREASON PLOT 

On the fatal night of April 14, 1865, Mr. Seward 
was lying ill in the southwest corner room in the third 
story — on the right hand of the picture — having been 
thrown from his carriage some days previously, receiv- 
ing serious injuries to his face and arm. At the 
moment when Booth entered the theater on his errand 
of death, Lewis Thornton Powell, alias Payne, a young 
Floridian, also entered the mansion of Secretary Seward 
and inflicted three wounds about the Secretary's head 
and neck, and stabbed and beat several other persons 
before he made his escape. 

This historic structure was recently torn down to give 
place to a theater building. 

The above pictures are from photos by the accom- 
plished artist, Charles H. Coe, Washington, D. C. 
Neither the Suratt House nor the Seward-Blaine Man- 
sion photographs have ever before been published. 



DURING THE WAR. 229 



CHAPTER XIX. 
Address of H. H. Dodd, the Grand Commander 
TO THE Grand Council of Indiana, Febru- 
ary i6th, 1864 — Treason equalled only by 
AUDACITY — The Order is to " restore the 

PEOPLE TO their FIRESIDE RIGHTS," ETC., WHEN 
" FANATICAL USURPERS AND WOULD-BE TYRANTS 
AND DICTATORS ARE SWEPT AWAY WITH THE 
RUBBISH," ETC. " OuR CHERISHED VaLLANDIG- 

ham resides in exile " " not another dol- 
lar, not another man for this nefarious 
war" — " The hour for daring deeds is not 
DISTANT " — " Sons of Liberty, Arise!" 
Councillors: This great brotherhood is entitled now 
to the respect of mankind, for the part it has enacted in 
the period anterior to the Revolution of 1776. Through 
it the Declaration was made, and the independence of 




JOHN WILKES BOOTH. 
The Assassin of President Lincoln. 



DURING THE WAR. 281 

the State achieved. This alone would endear it to every 
patriot heart, to every lover of republican institutions; 
if its history should stop here, when its operations were 
suspended, it were certainly enough — but still more 
glorious, superlatively brilliant, will be its history, when 
reinstated as it now is, it shall restore to this great peo- 
ple their fireside rights^ a -pitre elective franchise^ and 
an untranimeled judiciary ; when fanatical usurpers and 
would-be tyrants and dictators are swept away with the 
rubbish that has been thrown to the surface in these ex- 
traordinary times; when once more the governing prin- 
ciple shall be the will of the governed, expressly de- 
clared; when no more power shall be exercised than is 
or has been derived from the people, the legitimate 
source of all power. 

The great principle now in issue is the centralization 
of power, or the keeping it diffused in State sov- 
ereignty, as it is by the organic laws, constituting States 
and forming the General Government. 

The creation of an empire or republic, or the recon- 
struction of the old Union, by brute force, is simply im- 
possible. The liberation of four million blacks, and 
putting them upon an equality with the whites, is a 
scheme which can only bring its authors into shame, 
contempt and confusion. No results of this enterprise 
will ever be realized, beyond the army of occupation. 
It is not the part of wisdom, for those who have in 
hand the noble work of preserving the States from ruin 
and the races from intermixture, to base their action up- 
on any incident or accident, or upon any supposed term- 
ination of our present troubles. He who changes his 



232 THE GREAT TREASON PLOT 

views upon victory or defeat, is but a poor soldier for a 
long campaign against the mass of error, corruption and 
crime, now thickly spread over and through the body 
politic, and to an alarming extent influencing the action 
of the American mind. 

But, shall we stand aloof from political alliances, and 
seek in our own w^ay to assist in the needful reforma- 
tion? Shall we rely entirely upon ourselves? By no 
means — when the great end in view can be in the least 
degree promoted, we should not hesitate to lend our aid 
and support; but care should be taken that no uncertain 
path, or " devious ways^'' be- entered upon. 

Let me speak plain— our political aflinity is unques- 
tionably with the Democratic party, and if that organ- 
ization goes boldly to the work, standing firmly upon 
its time-honored principles, maintaining unsullied its 
integrity, it is safe to presume that it will receive the 
moral and physical support of this wide extended asso- 
ciation. 

Let no one say we will thus be subservient to a par- 
ty ; rather will we be subservient to the demands of 
our country, and the cause in which we have enlisted. 
There need be no apprehension that a war of coercion 
will be continued by a Democratic administration, if 
placed in control of public affairs, for, with the experi- 
ence of the present one, which has for three years, with 
the unlimited resources of eighteen millions of people, 
in men, money and ships, won nothing but its own dis- 
grace, and probable downfall, it is not likely that 
another, if it values public estimation, will repeat the 
experiment. 



DURING THE WAR. 233 

Neither have we any reason to fear that the Demo- 
cratic party, in shaping the canvass of 1864, will go out 
of its way to insult Jive hundred thousand of those 
whose votes are necessary to its success; let us rather 
incline to the belief that all the elements of opposition 
can and will be united, with no sacrifice of principle or 
manhood, to crush out this one now in power. A mere 
change of men will avail nothing, without correspond- 
ing action. Men, statesmen, and executive officers, 
exhort people to patience and long suffering, and while 
condemning Federal usurpation, yield obedience to all 
its demands. In the estimation of the membership of 
this organization, such men and such governors, be they 
of what party they may, must be regarded as enemies 
to good government. I trust I may be pardoned if I 
give a few examples to illustrate. 

If this people can not excuse the Federal Executive 
for exercising undue and unwarranted power, toward 
breaking down their rights, derived from the force of 
their State Governments, how shall they palliate the 
offense of Governor Seymour, in violating his obliga- 
tions in allowing it to be done in the great State of 
New York? This Governor becomes accessor}^ after 
the fact, and is alike worthy of public condemnation. 
Do you tell me it is a necessity to thus subserve the 
Washington usurpers! In God's name, do not tell me 
that it is a necessity to be foresworn, to violate the 
plainest provisions of the Constitution, to consign a 
people to a slavish subserviency to the will of one man ! 

The Democracy of Indiana, too, has made a culprit 
of itself. A Senator, by the mean and contemptible 



^^ 








r 



i^ 



SERGEANT BOSTON OORBETT, 
Who killed Booth, the Assassia. 



DURING THE WAR. 235 

action of a majority of the United States Senate, was 
wrongfully and maliciously expelled from his seat. 
The Legislature plainly acquiesced in this insult to the 
State and the party, by refusing to return him again. 
Again, our cherished Vallandigham resides in exile, 
not so much by the power of Lincoln, as the demands 
of those who are controlling, or did control the Demo- 
cratic party in that »State. 

These things are of the past; shall they be repeated 
in the future? The great fear is that they will be, so 
long- as this bugbear of civil war shall continue to hor- 
rify otherwise sensible people. My advice to you is, 
look well to the selection of men, upon whom you 
devolve the functions of leaders. This is no time to 
put forward men who take counsel of their fears. 

Will the exercise of an undoubted right, an inalien- 
able, an inherited, a constitutional right, lead to con- 
flict? Will opposition to usurpers, to dictators, to 
tyrants, who have broken down the safeguards of life 
and property, lead to it? Then there is no escape, 
save in dishonor, and the most potent argument in 
favor of the permanency and spread of this association 
lies in the fact, that there are men who desire a place, 
and those who desire peace and quiet upon such terms. 
But who will bring conflict? Who will commence 
hostilities? Certainly not those who are merely claim- 
ing their rights? The conflict must then be com- 
menced by those who are in the wrong. Must a people, 
therefore, continue to abase themselves, to keep those 
whom they have placed in authority from committing 
outrages upon them ? This is the strange logic of the 
times. 



236 THE GREAT TREASON PLOT 

This organization Is based upon the principle of con- 
serving the government inaugurated by the people, and 
bound to oppose all usurpations of power. Now it so 
happens that in the seventh year of its re-establishment, 
we find our State and Federal Government overturned. 
Yes, 'tis true. Lincoln's government is an usurpation — 
Morton's government is an usurpation. Now I know 
not w4iat others may do, but for myself, I am willing 
the ballot box shall decide who shall be the officers, 
under the law and Constitution; but I shall obey them 
only so far as they exercise their delegated powers. I 
will not agree to remain passive, under usurped author- 
ity, affecting my rights and my liberties. 

No one will enter the contest to overturn this party, 
more cheerfully than will I. But suppose it re-elects 
itself, will it return to the Constitution and laws? Are 
all those who do not agree with them to enter upon 
that delightful future, which has been so often and 
boastfully predicted by the Executive of this State, and 
many of his appointees? That future to you and to me 
is death, confiscation of our property, starvation to our 
children, the forced marriage of our heirs to their new- 
made colored brethren in arms. 

If these men be prolonged in power, they must 
either consent to be content to exercise the power dele- 
gated by the people, or, by the gods, they must prove 
themselves physically the stronger! This position is 
demanded by every true member of this fraternity, 
honor, life — aye, more than life, the virtue of our wives 
and daughters demand it; and if you intend to make 
this organization of any practical value, you will do one 



DURING THE WAR. 237 

of two things — either take steps to work the political 
regeneration of the party with which we are affihated, 
up to this standard, or relying upon ourselves, determine 
at once our plan of action.* 

It might be asked now, shall men be coerced to go 
to war, in a mere crusade to free negroes, and territorial 
aggrandizement? Shall our people be taxed to carry 
forward a war of emancipation, miscegenation, confis- 
cation, or extermination? 

It would be the happiest moment of my life, if I 
could stand up with any considerable portion of my 
fellow men and say, " Not another dollar, not another 
man, for this nefarious war." But the views and sug- 
gestions of exiled Vallandigham will be of greater 
consequence to you than my own. He says to you, 
the only issue now is peace or war. To the former he 
is committed, and cannot, will not retract. He tells us 
not to commit ourselves to men. As well as he loves 
and as much as he admires, the little hero McClellan, 
he would have the Chicago Convention act with 
untrammeled freedom. He reasons that the spring 
campaign will be more disastrous to the Federal 
armies than those heretofore made. That by Jul}' the 
increased call for troops, the certainty of a prolonged 
war, the rottenness of the financial system, defection of 
border State troops, the spread and adoption of the 
principles of this organization, will all tend to bring 
conservative men to one mind. 

He finally judges that the Washington power will 
not yield up its power, until it is taken from them by 

* Booth and his coadjutors determined theirs. 



238 THE GREAT TREASON PLOT 

an indignant people, by force of arms. He intimates 
that parties — men and interests — will divide into two 
classes, and that a conflict will eiisne for the mastery. 

^'' Sons of Liberty'''' arise! The diy is rapidly ap- 
proaching in the which yon can make good your 
promises to your country. The fuinace is being heated 
that will prove your sincerity — the hour for daring 
deeds is not distant — let the watchword be onward! 
And let the result bless riiankind with Republican 
Government, in this, our beloved land, to their latest 
posterity. 



W^' 






THOMAS A. JONES, 
Who'aided in the escape of Booth, the Assassin. 



240 THE GREAT TREASON PLOT 



CHAPTER XX. 
Official Report of the Judge Advocate Gen- 
eral OF THE United States upon the Secret 
Treasonable Orders "American Knights," 
"Sons of Liberty," etc. — A foul Conspiracy 
against the United States — Origin, History, 
Names, ETC. of the Orders — Organization, ex- 
tent AND numbers — Its armed force. Ritual, 
Oaths and interior forms — Its written prin- 
ciples—Specific Purposes and operations — 
Witnesses and their testimony. 

War Department, Bureau of Military ) 
Justice, Washington, D. C, October 8, 1864. [ 

Hon. E. M. Stanton., Secretai-y of War: 

During more than a year past it has been generally 
known to our military authorities that a secret treason- 
able organization, affiliated with the Southern rebellion, 
and chiefly military in its character, has been rapidly 
extending itself throughout the West. A variety of 
agencies, which will be specified herein, have been 



DURING THE WAR. 241 

employed, and successfully, to ascertain its nature and 
extent, as well as its aims and its results; and, as 
this investigation has led to the arrest in several States 
of a number of its prominent members as dangerous 
public enemies, it has been deemed proper to set forth 
in full the acts and purposes of this organization, and 
thus to make know^n to the country at large its intensely 
treasonable and revolutionary spirit. 

The subject will be presented under the following 
heads : 

I. The origin, history, names, etc.. of the order. 
II. Its organization and officers. III. Its extent and 
numbers. IV. Its armed force. V. Its ritual, oaths 
and interior forms. VI. Its written principles. VII. 
Its specific purposes and operations. VIII. The wit- 
nesses and their testimony. 

I. THE ORIGIN, HISTORY, NAMES, ETC., OF THE ORDER. 

This secret association first developed itself in the 
West in the year 1863, about the period of the first con- 
scription of troops, which it aimed to obstruct and resist. 
Originally known in certain localities as the " Mutual 
Protection Society," the "Circle of Honor," or the 
" Circle," or " Knights of the Mighty Host," but more 
widely as the " Knights of the Golden Circle," it was 
simply an inspiration of the rebellion, being little other 
than an extension among the disloyal and disaffected at 
the North of the association of the latter name, which 
had existed for some years at the South, and from 
which it derived all the chief features of its organization. 

During the Summer and Fall of 1863, ^^^ Order, 
both at the North and South, underwent some modifi- 



242 THE GREAT TREASON PLOT 

cations as well as a change of name. In consequence of 
a partial exposure which had been made of the signs 
and ritual of the " Knights of the Golden Circle," Sterl- 
ing Price had instituted as its successor in Missouri a 
secret political association, w^iich he called the " Corps 
de Belgique," or " Southern League," his principal 
coadjutor being Charles L. Hunt, of St. Louis, then 
Belgian Consul at that city, but whose exequator was 
subsequently revoked by the President on account of 
his disloyal practices. The special object of the Corps 
de Belgique appears to have been to unite the rebel 
sympathizers of Missouri, with a view to their taking 
up arms and joining Price u{)on his proposed grand 
invasion of that State, and to their recruiting for his 
army in the interim. 

Meanwhile, also, there had been instituted at the 
North, in the Autumn of 1863, by sundry disloyal per- 
sons — prominent among whom were Vallandigham and 
P. C. Wright, of New York — a secret order, intended 
to be general throughout the country, and aiming at an 
extended influence and power, and at more positive 
results than its predecessor, and which was termed, and 
has since been widely known as the O. A. K., or 
" Order of American Knights!''' 

The opinion is expressed by Col. Sanderson, Provost 
Marshal General of the Department of Missouri, in his 
official report upon the progress of this order, that it 
was founded by Vallandigham during his banishment, 
and upon consultation at Richmond with Davis and 
other prominent traitors. It is, indeed, the boast of the 
Order in Indiana and elsewhere, that its " ritual " came 



DURING THE WAK. 243 

direct from Davis himself; and Mary Ann Pitman, 
formerly attached to the commard of the rebel Forrest, 
and a most intelligent witness — whose testimon}^ will 
be hereafter referred to — states positively that Davis 
was a member of the order. 

Upon the institution of the principal organization, it 
is represented that the " Corps de Belgique " was modi- 
fied by Price, and became a Southern section of the 
(^rder of American Knights, and that the new name 
was generally adopted for the order, both at the North 
and South. The secret signs and character of the 
order having become known to our military authorities, 
further modifications in the ritual and forms were intro- 
duced, and its name was finally changed to that of O. 
S. L., or " Order of the Sons of Liberty .""^ These later 
changes are represented to have been first instituted, 
and the new ritual compiled, in the State of Indiana, in 
May last, ["1864] but the new name was at once gener- 
ally adopted throughout the West, though in some 
localities the association is still better known as the 
" Order of American Knights." 

Meanwhile, also, the Order has received certain local 
designations. In parts of Illinois it has been called at 
times the " Peace Organization;" in Kentucky the 
" Star Organization," and in Missouri the " American 
Organization;" these, however, being apparently names 
used outside of the lodges of the Order. Its members 
have also been familiarly designated as "Butternuts" 
by the country people of Illinois, Indiana and Ohio, and 
its separate lodges have also frequently received titles 
intended for the public ear; that in Chicago fgr instance,, 



244 THE GREAT TREASON PLOT 

being termed by its members the 'Democratic Invinci- 
ble Club," that in Louisville the " Democratic Reading 
Room," etc. 

It is to be added that in the State of New York, and 
other parts of the North, the secret political association 
known as the '•''McClellan Minute Guard'''' would 
seem to be a branch of the Order of American Knights, 
having substantially the same objects, to be accomp- 
lished, however, by means expressly suited to the local- 
ities in which it is estabU^hed. For, as the Chief Sec- 
retary of this association. Dr. R. F, Stevens, stated in 
June last to be a reliable witness, whose testimony has 
been furnished, "those who represent the McClellan 
interest are compelled to preach a vigorous prosecution 
of the war, in order to secure the popular sentiment 
and allure voters." 

II. — Its Organization and Officers. 

From printed copies, heretofore seized by the Gov- 
ernment, of the Constitution of the Supreme Council, 
Grand Council, and County Parent Temples, respec- 
tively, of the Order of Sons of Liberty, in connection 
with other and abundant testimony, the organization of 
the Order, in its latest form, is ascertained to be as fol- 
lows: 

I. The government of the order throughout the 
United States is vested in a Supreme Council, of which 
the officers are a Supreme Commander, Secretary of 
State, and Treasurer. These officers are elected for 
one year at the annual meeting of the Supreme Council, 
W^hich is made up of the Grand Commanders of the 



DURING THE WAR. 245 

several States ex officio^ and two delegates elected from 
each State in which the order is established. 

2. The government of the order in a State is vested 
in a Grand Council, the officers of which are a Grand 
Commander, Deputy Grand Commander, Grand Secre- 
tary, Grand Treasurer, and a certahi number of Major 
Generals, or one for each Military District. These 
officers are also elected annually by "rejiresentatives" 
from the county temples, each temple being entitled to 
two representatives, and [one additional for each thou- 
sand members. This body of representatives is also 
invested with certain legislative functions. 

3. The parent temple is the organization of the 
Order for a county, each temple being formally insti- 
tuted by authority of the Supreme Council, or of the 
Grand Council or Grand Commander of the State. 
By the same authority, or by that of the officers of the 
parent temple, branch or subordinate temples may be 
established for townships in the 'county. 

But the strength and significance of this organization 
lie in its military character. The secret constitution of 
the Supreme Council provides th^t theSupreme Com - 
mander ''''shall be commmder-in-chief of all inilitaiy 
forces belonging to the Order i?z the various States 
when called into actual service ; " and further, that the 
Grand Commanders '''•shall be co?ninanders-in-chief of 
the fnilitary forces of their respective States^ Sub- 
ordinate to the Grand Commander in the State are the 
'''•Major Generals!^'' each of whom commands his sep- 
arate district and army. In Indiana the Major Generals 
are four in number. In IlUinois, where the organiza- 



246 THE GREAT TREASON PLOT 

tion of the Order is considered most perfect, the mem- 
bers in each congressional district compose a '•'-bi'igadc^'' 
which is commanded by a '-'-hrigadier-generaV The 
members of each county constitute a '•'-regimen f with 
a '■'•colonel'''' in command, and those of each township 
form a '•'-company.'''' A somewhat similar system pre- 
vails in Indiana, where also each company is divided 
into '•'•squads^'' each with its chief — an arrangement 
intended to facilitate the guerilla mode of warfare in 
case of a general outbreak or local disorder. 

The " McClellan Minute Guard," as appears from a 
circular issued by the Chief Secretary in New York, in 
March last, is organized upon a military basis similar to 
that of the Order proper. It is composed of companies, 
one for each election district, ten of which constitute a 
" brigade," with a " brigadier general " at its head. The 
whole is placed under the authority of a commander-in- 
chief." A strict obedience on the part of members to 
the orders of their superiors is enjoined. 

The fiist "Supreme Commander" of the Order was 
P. C. Wright, of New York, editor of the New York 
hlezvs^ who was in May last ( 1864) placed in arrest and 
confined in Fort Lafayette. His successor in office was 
Vallandigham, who was elected at the annual meeting 
of the Supreme Council in February last. Robert 
Holloway, of Illinois, is represented to have acted as 
Lieutenant General, or Deputy Supreme Commander, 
during the absence of Vallandigham from the country. 
The Secretary of State chosen at the last election, was 
Dr. Massey, of Ohio. 

In Missouri, the principal officers were Charles L. 



DURING THE WAR. 247 

Hunt, Grand Commander, Charles E. Dunn, Deputy 
Grand Commander, and Green B. Smith, Grand Secre- 
tar3\ Since the arrest of these three persons (all of 
whom have made confessions which* will be presently 
alluded to,) James A. Barrett has, as it is understood, 
officiated as Grand Commander. He is stated to occupy 
also the position of chief of staff to the Supreme Com- 
mander. 

The Grand Commander in Indiana, H. H. Dodd, is 
now on trial at Indianapolis by a military commission 
for " conspiracy against the Government," " violation of 
the laws of war," and other charges. The Deputy 
Grand Commander in that State is Horace Heffren, and 
the Grand Secretary, W. M. Harrison. The Major 
Generals are W. A. Bowles, John C. Walker, L. P. 
Milligan, and Andrew Humphreys. Among the other 
leading members of the order in that state are Dr. 
Athon, State Secretary, and Joseph Ristine,'State Aud- 
itor. 

The Grand Commander in Illinois is S. Corning 
Judd, of Lewiston, and B. B. Piper, of wSpringfield, 
who is entitled " Grand Missionary " of the State, and 
designated also as a member of Vallandigham's staff, is 
one of the most active members, having been busily 
engaged throughout the Summer in establishing temples 
and initiating members. 

In Kentucky, Judge Bullitt, of the Court of Appeals, 
is Grand Commander, and with Dr. U. F. Kalfus and 
W. R. Thomas, jailor in Louisville, two other of the 
most prominent members, have been arrested and con- 
fined by the military authorities. In New York, Dr. 




L. P. MILLTGAN, 



Major General of Indiana Conspirators, tried and convicted of 
treason and sentenced to the gallows. 



DURING THE WAR. 249 

R. F. Stevens, the chief secretary of the McClellan 
Minute Guard, is the most active ostensible representa- 
tive of the Order. 

The greater part of the chief and subordinate officers 
of the Order and its branches, as well as the principal 
members thereof, are known to the Government, and, 
where not already arrested, may regard themselves as 
under a constant military surveillance. So complete has 
been the exposure of this secret league, that however 
frequently the conspirators may change its names, 
forms, jDasswords, and signals, its true purposes and 
operations can not longer be concealed from the mili- 
tary authorities. 

It is to be remarked that the vSupreme Council of the 
Order, which annually meets on February 22, convened 
this year at New York city, and a special meeting was 
then appointed to be held at Chicago on July i, or just 
prior to the day then fixed for the convention of the 
Democratic party. This convention having been post- 
poned to August 29, the special meeting of the Supreme 
Council was also postponed to August 27, at the same 
place, and was duly convened accordingly. It will be 
remembered that a leading member of the convention, 
in the course of a speech made before that body, 
alluded approvingly to the session of the Sons of Lib- 
erty at Chicago at the same time, as that of an organi- 
zation in harmony with the sentiment and projects of 
the convention. 

It may be observed, in conclusion, that one not fully 
acquainted with the true character and intentions of the 
Order, might well suppose that, in designating its 



250 THE GREAT TREASON PLOT 

officers by high mihtary titles, and in imitating in its 
organization that estabHshed in our armies, it was 
designed merely to render itself more popular and 
attractive with the masses, and to invest its chiefs with 
a certain sham dignity; but when it is understood that 
the Order comprises within itself a large army of well- 
armed men, constantly drilled and exercised as soldiers, 
and that this army is held ready, at any time, for such 
forcible resistance to our military authorities, and such 
active co-operation with the public enemy, as it may be 
called upon to engage in by its commanders, it will be 
perceived that the titles of the latter are npt assumed 
for a mere purpose of display, but that they are the 
chiefs of an actual and formidable force of conspira- 
tors against the life of the Government, and that their 
military system is, as it has been remarked by Colonel 
Sanderson, " the grand lever used by the rebel govern- 
ment for its army operations." 

III.— Its Extent And Numbers. 
The " Temples " or " lodges " of the Order are 
numerously scattered throngh the States of Indiana, 
Illinois, Ohio, Missouri and Kentucky. They are also 
officially reported as established, to a less extent, in 
Michigan and other Western States, as well as in New 
York, Pennsylvania, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, 
Connecticut, New Jersey, Maryland, Delaware and 
Tennessee. Dodd, the Grand Commander of Indiana, 
in an address to the members in that State, of February 
last, claims that the next annual meeting of the Supreme 
Council (in February, 1865,) every State in the Union 
will be represented, and adds, " this is the first and only 



DURING THE WAR. 251 

true National organization the Democratic and Conserv- 
ative men of the country have ever attempted." A 
provision made in the Constitution of the Council for a 
representation from the Territories shows, indeed, that 
the widest extension of the Order is contemplated. It 
is to be added that the regular places of meeting, as also 
the principal rendezvous and haunts of the members in 
these and less important places, are generally well 
known to the Government. 

The actual numbers of the Order have, it is believed, 
never before been officially reported, and cannot, there- 
fore, be accurately ascertained. Various estimates have 
been made, by leading members, some of which are, no 
doubt, considerably exaggerated. It has been asserted 
by delegates to the vSupreme Council of February last, 
that the number was there represented to be from eight 
hundred thousand to one million; but Vallandigham, in 
his speech last Summer, at Dayton, Ohio, placed it at 
Jive hzindred thousand^ which is probabl}'' much nearer 
the true total. The number of its members in the sev- 
eral States has been differently estimated in the reports 
and statements of its officers. Thus, the force of the 
Order in Indiana is stated to be from seventy-five to one 
hundred and twenty-five thousand; in Illinois, from one 
hundred to one hundred and forty thousand; in Ohio, 
from eighty to one hundred and eight thousand; in 
Kentucky, from forty to seventy thousand; in Missouri, 
from twenty to forty thousand; and in Michigan and 
New York, about twenty thousand each. Its represen- 
tation in the other states above mentioned does not 
specifically appear from the testimony ; but, allowing 



252 THE GREAT TREASON PLOT 

for every exaggeration in the figures reported, they 
may be deemed to present a tolerably faithful view of 
what, at least, is regarded by the order as its true force 
in the states designated. 

In Kentucky and Missouri the order has not hesitated 
to admit as members, not only officers of that army, 
but also a considerable number of guerrillas, a class who 
might be supposed to appreciate most readily its spirit 
and purposes. It is fully shown that as lately as in July 
last, several of these ruffians were initiated into the first 
degree by Dr. Kalfus, in Kentucky. 

IV. ITS ARMED FORCE. 

Although the Order has from the outset partaken of 
the military character, it was not till the Summer or Fall 
of 1863 that it began to be generally organized as an 
armed body. Since that date its officers and leaders 
have been busily engaged in placing it upon a military 
basis, and in preparing it for a revolutionary movement. 
A general system of drilling has been instituted and 
secretly carried out. Members have been instructed to 
be constantly provided with weapons, and in some lo- 
calities it has been absolutely required that each mem- 
ber should keep at his residence, at all times, certain 
arms and a specified quantity of ammunition. 

In March last, 1S64, the entire armed force of the 
Order, capable of being mobilized for effective service, 
was represented to be three hundred and forty thousand 
men. As the details, ujDon which this statement was 
made, are imperfectly set forth in the testimony, it is 
not known how far this number may be exaggerated. 



DURING THE WAR. 253 

It is abundantly shown, however, that the Order, by 
means of a tax levied upon its members, has accumu- 
lated considerable funds for the purchase of arms and 
ammunition, and that these have been procured in large 
quantities for its use. The witness Clayton, on the trial 
of Dodd, estimated that tivo-thlrds of the Order are 
furnished with arms. 

Green B. Smith, Grand Secretary of the Order in 
Missouri, states in his confession of July last: " I know 
that arms, mostly revolvers and ammunition, have been 
purchased by members in St. Louis, to send to members 
in the country where they could not be had;" and he 
subsequently adds that he himself alone clandestinely 
purchased and forwarded, between Apiil 15th and 19th 
last, about two hundred revolvers, with five thousand 
percussion caps and other ammunition. A muster-roll 
of one of the country lodges of that State is exhibited, 
in which, opposite the name of each member, are noted 
certain numbers, under the heads of " Missouri Repub- 
lican," " St. Louis Union," ''Anzeiger," "Miscellaneous 
Periodicals," "Books," " Speeches, " and "Reports;" 
titles which, when interpreted, severally signify single- 
barreled gzms^ dvuble-barreled giais^ revolvers ^private 
ammiinition^ private lead^ company pozvder^ company 
lead — the roll thus actually setting forth the amount of 
arms and ammunition in the possession of the lodge and 
its members. 

In the States of Ohio and Illinois, the Order is claimed, 
by its members, to be unusually well armed with revol- 
vers, carbines, etc.; but it is in regard to the arming of 
the Order in Indiana that the principal statistics have 



254 THE GREAT TREASON PLOT 

been presented, and these may serve to illustrate the 
system which has probably been pursued in most of the 
States. One intelligent witness, who has been a mem- 
ber, estimates that in March last, 1864, there were in 
possession of the Order, in that vState, six thousand mus- 
kets and sixty thousand revolvers, besides private arms. 
Another member testifies that at a single lodge meeting 
of two hundred and fifty-two persons, which he attended 
early in the present year, the sum of $4,000 was sub- 
scribed for arms. Other members present make state- 
ments in reference to the number of arms in their 
respective counties, and all agree in representing that 
these have been constantly forwarded from Indianapolis 
into the interior. Beck and Brothers are designated as 
the firm in that city, to which most of the arms were 
consigned. These were shipped principally from the 
East; some packages, however, were sent from Cincin- 
nati, and some from Kentucky, and the boxes were 
generally marked " Pick-axes," " hardware," '' nails," 
" household goods," etc. 

General Carrington estimates that in February and 
March, 1S64, nearly thirty thousand ginis and revolvers 
entered the State, and this estimate is based upon an 
actual inspection of invoices. The true number, intro- 
duced was, therefore, probably considerably greater. 
That officer adds, that on the day in which the sale of 
arms was stopped by his order, in Indianapolis, nearly 
one thousand additional revolvers had been contracted 
for, and that the trade could not supply the demand. 
He further reports that after the intoduction of arms 
into the Department of the North had been prohibited 



DURING THE WAR. 255 

in General Orders of March last, a seizure was made 
by the Government of a large quantity of revolvers and 
one hundred and thirty-five thousand rounds of ammu- 
nition, which had been shipped to the firm in Indian- 
ajDolis, of which H. H. Dodd, Grand Commander was 
a member; that other arms about to be shipped to the 
same destination were seized in New York city; and 
that all these were claimed as private property of John 
C. Walker, one of the Major Generals of the Order in 
Indiana, and were represented to have been ''''purchased 
for a few friendsP It should be stated that at the 
ofiice of Hon. D. W. Voorhees, M. C, at Terre Haute, 
were discovered letters which disclosed a correspondence 
between him and ex-Senator Wall, of New Jersey, in 
regard to the purchase of twenty thousand Garibaldi 
rifles, to be forwarded to the West. 

It appears in the course of the testimony that a consid- 
erable quantity of arms and ammunition were brought 
into the State of Illinois from Burlington, Iowa, and 
that ammunition was sent from New Albany, Indiana, 
into Kentucky; it is also represented that, had Vallan- 
digham been arrested on his return to Ohio, it was con- 
templated furnishing the Order with arms from a point 
in Canada, near Windsor, where they were stored and 
ready for use. 

There remains further to be noticed, in this connec- 
tion, the testimony of Clayton upon the trial of Dodd, 
to the effect that arms were to be furnished the Order 
from Nassau, N. P., by way of Canada; that, to defray 
the expense of these arms or their transportation, a for- 
mal assessment was levied upon the lodges, but that 




STEPHEN HORSEY. 

Major General of Indiana Conspirators and with Bowles and 
Milligan sentenced to the gallows. 



DURING THE WAR. 257 

the transportation Into Canada was actually to be fur- 
nished by the Confederate authorities. 

A statement was made by Hunt, Grand Commander 
of Missouri, before his arrest, to a fellow-member, that 
shells and all kinds of munitions of war, as well as in- 
fernal machines, were manufactured for the Order at 
Indianapolis; and the late discovery in Cincinnati of 
samples of hand-grenades, conical shells and rockets, 
of which one thousand were about to be manufactured, 
under a special contract, for the Order of Sons of Lib- 
erty, goes directly to verif)' such a statement. 

These details will convey some idea of the attempts 
which have been made to place the Order upon a war 
footing and prepare it for aggressive movements. But, 
notwithstanding all the efforts that have been put forth, 
and with considerable success, to arm and equip its 
members as fighting men, the leaders have felt them- 
selves still very deficient in their armament, and numer- 
ous schemes for increasing their armed strength have 
been devised. Thus, at the time of the issuing of the 
general order in Missouri, requiring the enrollment of 
all citizens, it was proposed in the lodges of the Order 
of American Knights, at St. Louis, that certain mem- 
bers should raise companies in the militia, in their re- 
spective wards, and thus get command of as many Gov- 
ernment arms and equipments as possible, for the future 
use of the Order. Again it was proposed that all mem- 
bers should enrol themselves in the militia, instead of 
paying commutation, in this way obtaining possession 
of United States arms, and having the advantage of the 
drill and military instruction. In the Councils of the 



268 THE GREAT TREASON PLOT 

Order in Kentucky, in June last, a scheme was devised 
for disarming all the negro troops, which it was 
thought could be done without much difficulty, and ap- 
propriating their arms for military purposes. 

It is to be observed that the Order in the State of 
Missouri has counted greatly upon support from the 
enrolled militia, in case of an invasion by Price, as con- 
taining many members and friends of the Order of 
American Knights; and that the "Paw-Paw Militia," a 
military organization of Buchanan county, as well as 
the militia of Platte and Clay counties, known as " Flat- 
Foots," have been relied upon, almost to a man, to join 
the revolutionary movement. 



DURING THE WAR. 259 



CHAPTER XXI. 

ITS RITUAL, OATHS AND INTERIOR FORMS. 

The ritual of the Order, as well as its secret signs, 
passwords, etc., has been fully made known to the mil- 
itary authorities. In August last one hundred and 
twelve copies of the ritual of the Order of American 
Knights were seized in the office of Hon. D. W. Voor- 
hees, M. C, at Terre Haute, and a large number of 
rituals of the Order of the Sons of Liberty, together 
with copies of the constitutions of the councils, etc., 
already referred to, were found in the building at Indian- 
apolis, occupied by Dodd, The Grand Commander of 
Indiana, as had been indicated by the Government wit- 
ness and detective, Stidger. Copies were likewise dis- 
covered at Louisville, at the residence of Dr. Kalfus^ 
concealed within the mattress of his bed, where Stidg-ei: 
had ascertained that they were kept. 




ANDREW HUMPHREYS, 

Major General of Indiana Conspirators, tried on charge of treason. 



DURING THE WAR. 2«1 

The ritual of the Order of American Knights has 
also been furnished by the authorities of St. Louis. 
From the ritual, that of the Order of the Sons of Lib- 
erty does not materially differ. Both are termed *' pro- 
gressive," in that they provide for five separate degi-ees 
of membership, and contemplate the admission of a 
member of a lower degree into a higher one only upon 
certain vouchers and proofs of fitness, which, with each 
ascending degree, are required to be stronger and more 
imposing. 

Each degree has its commander or head; the fourth 
or " grand " is the highest in the State; the fifth or 
" Supreme" the highest in the United States; but to the 
first or lower degree only do the great majority of 
members attain. A large proportion of these enter the 
order, supposing it to be a " Democratic " and political 
association merely; and the history of the order furn- 
ishes a most striking illustration of the gross and crim- 
inal deception which may be practiced upon the ignor- 
ant masses by unscrupulous and unprincipled leaders. 
The members of the lower degree are often for a con- 
siderable period kept quite unaware of the true purposes 
of their chiefs. But to the latter they are bound, in the 
language of their obligation, '•'•to yield prompt and im- 
plicit obedience to the utinost of their ability^ without 
remo7istrance^ hesitation or delay ^'' and meanwhile their 
minds, under the discipline and teachings to which they 
are subjected, become educated and accustomed to con- 
template with comparative unconcern the treason for 
which they are preparing. 

The oaths, "invocations," "charges," etc., of the rit- 



262 THE GREAT TREASON PLOT 

ual, expressed as they are in bombastic and extrava- 
gant phrnseolop^v would excite in the mind of an edu- 
cated person only ridicule or contempt, but upon the 
illiter;itc they are calculated to make a deep impression, 
the effect atul importance of which were doubtless fully 
studied l)v the framers of the instrument. 

The oath which is administered upon the introduc- 
tion of a member into any degree, is especially impos- 
ing in its language; it prescribes as a penalty for a 
vioLidoii of the obligation assumed " a shameful death," 
and further, that the body of the person guilty of such 
violation shall be divided into four parts and cast out at 
the four ''gates" of the te«"nple. Not only, as has been 
said, does it enjoin a blind obedience to the commands 
of the superiors of the order, but it is required to be 
held of paramount obligation to any oath w^hich may 
be ;idininistered to a member in a court of justice or 
els '\vliere. Thus, in cases where members have been 
sworn in- officers empowered to administer oaths to 
speak the whole truth in answer to questions that may 
be iHit to them, and have then been examined in refer- 
ence to the Order, and their connection therewith, 
they have not only refused to give any information in 
regard to its character, but have denied that they were 
members, or even knew of its existence. A conspicu- 
ous instance of this is presented in the cases of Hunt, 
Dunn and Smith, the chief officers of the Order in 
Missouri, who, upon their first examination under oath, 
after their arrest, denied all connection with the Order, 
but confessed, also under oath, at a subsequent period, 
that this denial was wholly false, although in accordance 



DURING THE WAR. 263 

with their obHgations as members. Indeed, a deliber- 
ate system of deception in regard to the details ot the 
conspiracy is inculcated upon the members, and studi- 
ously pursued; and it ma}' be mentioned, as a similarly 
despicable feature of the organization, that it is held 
bound to injure the Administration and officers of the 
Government in every possible manner, by misrepre- 
sentation and falsehood. 

Members are also instructed that their oath of mem- 
bership is to be held paramount to an oath of allegi- 
ance, or any other oath which may impose obligations 
inconsistent with those which are assumed upon enter- 
ing the Order. Thus, if a member, when in danger, 
or for the purpose of facilitating some traitorous design, 
has taken the oath of allegiance to the United Sates, 
he is held at liberty to violate it on the first occasion, 
his obligation to the Order being deemed superior to 
any consideration of duty or loyalty prompted by such 
oath. 

It is to be added that where members are threatened 
with the penalties of perjury, in case of their answering 
falsely to questions propounded to them in regard to the 
order before a court or grand jury, they are instructed 
to refuse to answer such questions, alleging, as a ground 
for their refusal, that their answers may crij7iinate 
themselves. The testimony shows that this course has 
habitually been pursued by members, especially in 
Indiana, when placed in such a situation. 

Besides the oaths and other forms and ceremonies 
which have been alluded to, the ritual contains what are 
termed " Declarations of Principles." These declara- 



264 THE GREAT TREASON PLOT 

tions, which are most important as exhibiting the creed 
and character of the Order, as inspired by the principles 
of the rebeUion, will be fully represented under the 
next branch of the subject. 

The sijrns, signals^ passwords^ etc., of the Order 
are set forth at length in the testimony, but need only 
be briefly alluded to. It is a significant fact, as show- 
ing: the intimate relations between the Northern and 
Southern sections of the secret conspiracy, that a mem- 
ber from a Northern State is enabled to pass without 
risk through the South by the use of the signs of recogni- 
tion which have been established throughout the Order, 
and by means of which members from distant points, 
though meeting as strangers, are at once made known to 
each other as " brothers." 

Mary Ann Pitman expressly states in her testimony 
that whenever important dispatches are required to be 
sent by rebel generals beyond their lines, members of the 
Order are always selected to convey them. Certain 
passwords are also used in common in both sections, 
and of these, none appears to be more familiar than the 
word " Nu-oh-lac," or the name " Calhoun " spelt back- 
ward, and which is employed upon entering a Temple 
of the first degree of the Order of American Knights — 
certainly a fitting password to such dens of treason. 

Besides the signs of recognition, there are sights of 
waj-ning and dangei'^ for use at night, as well as by 
day; as, for instance, signs to warn members of the ap- 
proach of United States officials seeking to make ar- 
rests. The Order has also established what are called 
battle signals^ by means of which, as it is asserted, a 



t)URING THE WAR. 265 

member serving In the army may comm.unicate with the 
enemy in the field, and thus escape personal harm in 
case of attack or capture. 

The most recent of these signals represented to have 
been adopted is a five-pointed copper star, worn under 
the coat, which is to be disclosed upon meeting an en- 
emy, who will thus recognize in the wearer a sympa- 
thizer and an ally. A similar star of Germ.an silver, 
hung in a frame, is said to be numerously displayed by 
members or their families in private houses in Indiana, 
for the purpose of insuring protection to their property 
in case of a raid or other attack; and it is stated that in 
many dwellings in the State a portrait of John Morgan 
is exhibited for a similar purpose. 

Other signs are used by members, and especially the 
officers of the order in their con-espondcnce. Their 
letters, when of an official character, are generally con- 
veyed by special messengers, but when transmitted 
through the mail are usually in cipher. When written 
in the ordinary manner, a character at the foot of the 
letter, consisting of a circle with a line drawn across 
the center, signifies to the member who receives it, that 
the statements as written are to be understood in a sense 
directly the opposite to that which would ordinarily be 
conveyed. 

It is to be added that the meetings of the order, espec- 
icilly in the country, are generally held at night and in 
secluded places; and that the approach to them is care- 
fully guarded by a line of sentinels, who are passed 
only by means of a special countersign^ which is termed 
the "picket." 



266 THE GEEAT TREASON PLOT 

VI. ITS WRITTEN PRINCIPLES 

The ^'' Declaration of Principles^'' which is set forth 
in the ritual of the Order, has ah-eady been alluded to. 
This declaration, which is specially framed for the in- 
struction of the great mass of members, commences 
with the following proposition: 

" All men are endowed by the Creator with certain 
rights, equal as far as there is equality in the capacity 
for the appreciation, enjoyment, and exercise of those 
rights." And subsequently there is added: "In the 
Divine economy no individual of the human race must 
be permitted to encumber the earth, to mar its aspects 
of transcendent beauty, nor to impede the progress of 
the physical or intellectual man, neither in himself nor 
in the race to which he belongs. Hence, a people, 
upon whatever plane they may be found in the ascend- 
ing scale of humanity, whom neither the divinity within 
them nor the inspirations of divine and beautiful nature 
around them can impel to virtuous action and progress 
onward and upward, should be subjected to a just and 
humane servitude and tutelage to the superior race until 
they shall be able to appreciate the benefits and advant- 
ages of civilization." Here, expressed in studied terms 
of hypocrisy, is the whole theory of human bondage — 
the right of the strong, because they are strong, to 
despoil and enslave the weak, because they ai'e weak! 
The languages of earth can add nothing to the cow- 
ardly and loathsome baseness of the doctrine, as thus 
announced. It is the robber's creed sought to be nation- 
alized, and would push back the hand on the dial plate 
of our civilization to the darkest periods of human his- 
tory. 



DURING THE WAR. 267 

To these detestable tenets is added that other pernici- 
ous political theory of State sovereignty, with its nec- 
essary fruit, the monstrous doctrine of secession — a 
doctrine which, in asserting that in our federative sys- 
tem a part is greater than the whole, would compel the 
General Government, like a Japanese slave, to com- 
mit hari-kari whenever a faithless or insolent State 
should command it to do so. 

Thus, the ritual, after reciting that the States of the 
Union are " free, independent, and sovereign," pro- 
ceeds as follows: 

"The government designated 'the United States of 
America' has no sovereignty^ because that is an attri- 
bute with which the people, in their several and dis- 
tinct political organizations, are endowed, and is inalien- 
able. It was constituted by the terms of the compact^ 
by all the States, through the express will of the people 
thereof, respectively — a common agent, to use and 
exercise certain named, specified, defined, and limited 
powers, which are inherent of the sovereignties within 
those States. It is permitted, so far as regards its status 
and relations, as common agent in the exercise of the 
powers carefully and jealously delegated to it, to call 
itself 'supreme,' but not '-sovereign!' In accordance 
with the principles upon which is founded the Ameri- 
can theory^ government can exercise only delegated 
power; hence, if those who shall have been chosen to 
administer to the government shall assume to exercise 
powers not delegated, they should be regarded and 
treated as usurpers. The reference to 'inherent power,' 
'war power,' or 'military necessity,' on the part of the 



268 THE GREAT TREASON PLOT 

functionary for the sanction of an arbitrary exercise of 
power by him, we will not accept in paliation or 
excuse." 

To this is added, as a corollary, "it is incompatible 
with the history and nature of our system of govern- 
ment, that Federal authority should coerce by arms a 
sovereign State." 

The declaration of principles, however, does not stop 
here, but proceeds one step further, as follows; 
"Whenever the chosen olBcers or delegates shall fail or 
refuse to administer the Government in strict accord- 
ance with the letter of the accepted Constitution, it is 
the inherent right and the solemn and imperative duty 
of the people to resist the functionaries, and, if need 
be, to expel thei}t by force of arms ! Such resistance is 
not revolution, but is solely the assertion of right — the 
exercise of all the noble attributes which impart honor 
and dignity to manhood." 

To the same effect, though in a milder tone, is the 
platform of the Order in Indiana, put forth by the 
Grand Council at their meeting in February last, 
which declares that "the right to alter or abolish their 
government, whenever it fails to secure the blessings of 
liberty, is one of the Inalienable rights of the people 
that can never be surrendered." 

Such, then, are the principles which the new mem- 
ber swears to observe and abide by in his obligation, 
set forth in the ritual, where he says: " I do solemnly 
promise that I will ever cherish in my heart of hearts 
the subHme creed of the E. K., (Excellent Knights,) 
and will, so far as in me lies, illustrate the same in my 




HON. HORACE HEFFREN, 

Former State Senator of Indiana,; later Deputy Grand Commander 
ol the Conspirators in Indiana, tried on charge of treason— be- 
came a -witness for the Government. 



270 THE GREAT TREASON PLOT 

intercourse with men, and will defend the principles 
thereof, if need be, with my life, whensoever assailed, 
in my own country first of all. I do further solemnly 
declare that I will never take up arms in behalf of any 
government which does not acknowledge the sole 
authority or power to be the will of the governed." 

The following extracts from the ritual, may also be 
quoted as illustrating the principle ofthe right of revo- 
lution and resistance to constituted authority insisted 
upon by the Order: 

" Our swords shall be unsheathed whenever the great 
principles which we aim to inculcate and have sworn to 
maintain and defend are assailed." 

Again: " I do solemnly promise, that whensoever 
the principles which our Order inculcates shall be 
assailed in my own State or country, I will defend these 
principles with my sword and my life, in whatsoever 
capacity may be assigned me by the competent author- 
ity of our order." 

And further: " I do promise that I will, at all times, 
if need be, take up arms in the cause of the oppressed — 
in my own country first of all — against any power or 
government usurped, which may be found in arms and 
waging war against the people or peoples who are en- 
deavoring to establish, or have inaugurated, a govern- 
ment for themselves of their own free choice." 

Moreover, it is to be noted that all the addresses and 
speeches of its leaders breathe the same principle, of 
the right of the forcible resistance to the Government, 
as one of the tenets of the Order. 



DURING THE WAR. 271 

Thus P. C. Wrio^bt, Supreme Commander, in his 
general address of December, 1863, after urging that 
" the spirit of the fathers may animate the free minds, 
the brave hearts, and still unshackled limbs of the true 
Democ7'acy^'' (meaning the members of the Order,) 
adds as follows: "To be prepared for the crisis now 
approaching, we must catch from afar the earliest and 
faintest breathings of the spirit of the storm ; to be suc- 
cessful when the storm comes, we must be watchful, 
patient, brave, confident, organized, armed. 

Thus, too, Dodd, Grand Commander of the Order in 
Indiana, quoting in his address of February last, the 
views of his chief, Vallandigham, and adopting them as 
his own, says: 

"He (Vallandigham) judges that the Washington 
power will not yield up its power until it is taken from 
them by an indignant people, byjorce of arms.'''' 

Such, then, are the written principles of the (^rder in 
which the neophyte is instructed, and which he is sworn 
to cherish and observe as his rule of action, when, with 
arms placed in his hands, he is called upon to engage in 
the overthrow of his Government. What more ap- 
propriate password, therefore, to be communicated to 
the new member upon his first admission to the secrets 
of the Order could have been conceived, than that which 
was actually adopted — "Calhoun!" — a man, who, baf- 
fled in his lust for power, with gnashing teeth turned 
upon the Government that had lifted him to its highest 
honors, and upon the country that had borne him, and 
down to the very close of his fevered life labored inces- 
santly to scatter far and wide the seeds of that poison of 



272 THE GREAT TREASON PLOT 

death now upon our lips. The thorns which now pierce 
and tear us are of the tree he phmtcd. 



CHAPTER XXII. 
Its Specific Purposes and Operations. 
From the principles of the Order, as thus set forth, 
its general pui-pose of co-operating with the rebellion 
may readily be inferred, and, in fact, those principles 
could logically lead to no other result. This general 
purpose, indeed, is distinctly set forth in the personal 
statements and confessions of its members, and particu- 
larly of its prominent otBcers, who have been induced 
to make disclosures to the Government. Among the 
most significant of these confessions are those already 
alluded to, of Hunt, Dunn, and Smith, the heads of the 
Order in Missouri. The latter, whose statement is full 
and explicit, says: "At the time I joined the Order I 
understood that its object was to aid and assist the Con- 
federate Government, and endeavor to restore the 
Union as it was prior to the rebellion." He adds: 
"The Order is hostile in every respect to the General 



DURING THE WAR. 273 

Government, and friendly to the so-called Confederate 
Government. It is exclusively made up of disloyal 
persons — of all Democrats w^ho are desirous of securing 
the independence of the Confederate States vs^ith a view^ 
of restoring the Union as it was." 

But proceeding to the specijic purposes of the Order, 
which its leaders have had in view from the beginning, 
and which, as will be seen, it has been able, in many 
cases, to carry out with very considerable success, the 
following are found to be the most pointedly presented 
by the testimony: 

I. Aiding Soldiers to Desert and Harboring and 
Protect hi g Deserters. — Early in its history the Order 
essayed to undermine such portions of the army as 
were exposed to its insidious approaches. Agents 
were sent by the Knights of the Golden Circle into the 
camps to introduce the Order among the soldiers, and 
those who became members were instructed to induce 
as many of their companions as possible to desert, and 
for this purpose, the latter were furnished by the Order 
with money and citizen's clothing. Soldiers who hesi- 
tated "at desertion, but desired to leave the army, were 
introduced to lawyers who engaged to furnish them 
some quasi legal pretext for so doing, and a certain 
attorney of Indianapolis, named Walpole, who was 
particularly conspicuous in furnishing facilities of this 
character to soldiers who applied to him, has boasted 
that he has thus aided five hundred enlisted men to 
escape from their contracts. Through the schemes of 
the Order in Indiana, whole companies were broken up 
— a large detachment of a battery company, for 



274 THE GREAT TREASON PLOT 

instance, deserting on one occasion to the enemy with 
two of its guns — and the camps were imbued with a 
spirit of discontent and dissatisfaction with the service. 
As soon as arrests of these deserters began to be gen- 
erally made, writs of habeas cor f us were issued in their 
cases by disloyal judges, and a considerable number 
were discharged thereon. 

Soldiers upon deserting, were assured of immunity 
from punishment and protection on the part of the 
Order, and were instructed to bring away with them 
their arms, and, if mounted, their horses. Details sent 
to arrest them by the military authorities, were in sev- 
eral cases forcibly resisted, and, where not unusually 
strong in numbers, were driven back by large bodies of 
men, subsequently generally ascertained to be mem- 
bers of the Order. 

In the case of the outbreak in Morgan county, J. S. 
Bingham, editor of the Indianapolis Sentinel^ a mem- 
ber or friend of the order, sought to forward to the dis- 
loyal newspapers of the West, false and inflammatory 
telegraphic dispatches in regard to the affair, to the 
effect that cavalry had been sent to arrest all the Demo- 
crats in the county, that they had committed gross out- 
rages, and that several citizens had been shot; and add- 
ing " ten thousand soldiers cannot hold the men arrested 
this night. Civil war and bloodshed are inevitable." 
The assertions in this dispatch were entirely false, and 
may serve to illustrate the fact heretofore noted, that a 
studious misrepresentation of the acts of the Govern- 
ment and its officers is a part of the prescribed duty of 
the members of the Order. It is proper to mention 



DURING THE WAR. 275 

that seven of the party in Morgan county, who made 
the attack upon our troops, were convicted of their 
offense by a State court. Upon their trial it was proved 
that the party was composed of members of the Knights 
of the Golden Circle. One of the most pointed instances 
of protection afforded to deserters occurred in a case in 
Indiana, where seventeen intrenched themselves in a 
log cabin with a ditch and palisade, and were furnished 
with provisions and sustained in their defense against 
our military authorities for a considerable period by the 
Order or its friends. 

2. Discou7'aging E7iUst7nents and Resisting the 
Draft. — It is especially inculcated by the Order to op- 
pose the re-inforcement of our armies, either by volun- 
teers or drafted men. In several counties of the State 
a considerable military force was required for the pro- 
tection of United States officials, and a large number of 
arrests were made, including that of one Reynolds, an 
ex-Senator of the Legislature, for publicly urging upon 
the populace to resist conscription — an offense of the 
same character, in fact, as that upon which Vallandig- 
ham was apprehended in Ohio. These outbreaks were 
no doubt, in most cases, incited by the Order and en- 
gaged in by its members. In Indiana nearly two 
hundred persons were indicted for conspiring against 
the Government, resisting the draft, etc., and about 
sixty of these were convicted. 

3. Circulation of Disloyal and 7 reasonable Publi- 
cations. — The Order, especially in Missouri, has secretly 
circulated throughout the country, a great quantity of 
treasonable publications, as a means of extending it^ 



276 THE GREAT TREASON PLOT 

own power and inflnence, as well as of giving encour- 
agement to the disloyal and inciting them to treason. 

4. Communicating w/V/z, and Giviitg Intelligence 
to the Enemy. — Smith, Grand Secretary of the Order in 
Missouri, says in his confession: "Rebel spies, mail- 
carriers, and emissaries have been carefully protected by 
this Order ever since I have been a member." It is 
shown in the testimony to be customary in the rebel 
service to employ members of the Order as spies, under 
the guise of soldiers furnished with furloughs to visit 
their homes within our lines. On coming within the 
territory occupied by our forces, they are harbored and 
supplied with information by the Order. Another class 
of spies claim to be deserters from the enemy, and at 
once seek an opportunity to take the oath of allegiance, 
which, however, though voluntarily taken, they claim 
to be administered while they are under a species of 
duress, and, therefore not to be binding. Upon swear- 
ing allegiance to the Government, the pretended 
deserter engages, with the assistance of the Order, in 
collecting contraband goods or procuring intelligence to 
be conveyed to the enemy, or in some other treasonable 
enterprise. 

In Missouri regular mail communication was for a 
long period maintained through the agency of the order 
from St. Louis to Price's army, by means of which 
private letters, as well as official dispatches between him 
and the Grand Commander of Missouri, were regularly 
transmitted. The mail-carriers started from a point on 
the Pacific railroad, near Kirkwood's station, about 
fourteen miles from St. Louis, and traveling only by 



DURING THE WAR. 27t 

night, proceeded (to quote from Col. Sanderson's 
report) to "Mattox Mills," on the Maramee river, 
thence past Mineral point to Webster, thence to a point 
fifteen miles below Van Buren, where they crossed the 
Black river and thence to the rebel lines." It is, prob- 
ably, also by this route that the secret correspondence, 
stated by the witness Pitman to have been constantly 
kept up between Price and Vallandigham, the heads of 
the Order at the North and South respectively, was 
successfully maintained. 

A similar communication has been continuously held 
with the enemy from Louisville, Kentucky. A consid- 
rable number of women in that State, many of them of 
high position in rebel society, and some of them out- 
wardly professing to be loyal, were discovered to have 
been actively engaged in receiving and forwarding 
mails, with the assistance of the Order and as its instru- 
ments. Two of the most notorious and successful of 
these, ISIrs. Woods and Miss Cassell, have been appre- 
hended and imprisoned. 

By means of this correspondence with the enemy, 
the members of the Order were promptly apprised of 
all raids to be made by the forces of the former, and 
were able to hold themselves prepared to render aid and 
comfort to the raiders. To show how efficient for this 
purpose was the system thus established, it is to be 
added that our military authorities have, in a number of 
cases, been informed, through members of the Order 
employed in the interest of the Government, of impend- 
ing raids and important army movements of the rebels, 
not only days, but sometimes weeks, sooner than the 



278 THE GEEA.T TREASON PLOT 

same intelligence could have reached them through the 
ordinary channels. 

On the other hand, the system of espionage kept up 
by the Order, for the purpose of obtaining information 
of the movements of our own forces, etc., to be 
imparted to the enemy, seems to have been as perfect 
as it was secret. The Grand Secretary of the Order in 
Missouri states, in his confession: "One of the especial 
objects of this Order was to place members in steam- 
boats, ferry-boats, telegraph offices, express offi,ces, 
department headquarters, provost marshal's office, and, 
in fact, in every position where they could do valuable 
service;" and he proceeds to specify certain members 
who, at the date of his confession, (August 2d last,) 
were employed at the express and telegraph offices in 
St. Louis. 

5. Aiding the Enemy ^ by Recruiting for tkem or 
assistino- them to Recruit^ xvithin our lines. — This has 
also been extensively carried on by members of the 
Order, particularly in Kentucky and Missouri. It is 
estimated that two thousand men were sent South from 
Louisville alone during a few weeks in April and May, 
1864. The Order and its friends at that city have a per- 
manent fund, to which there are m lay subscribers, for 
the purpose of fitting out with pistols, clothing, money, 
etc., men desiring to join the Southern service; and, in 
the lodges of the order in St. Louis and Northern 
Missouri, m.oney has often been raised to purchase 
horses, arms and equipments for soldiers about to be 
forwarded to the Southern army. In the latter State, 
parties empowered by Price, or by Grand Commander 



DURING THE WAR. 279 

Hunt as his representative, to recruit for the rebel serv- 
ice, w^ere nominally authorized to "locate lands," as it 
was expressed, and in their reports, which were form- 
ally made, the number of acres, etc., located, represented 
the number of men recruited. At Louisville, those 
desiring to join the Southern forces were kept hidden, 
and supplied with food and lodging until a convenient 
occasion was presented for their transportation South. 
They were then collected and conducted at night to a 
safe rendezvous of the Order, whence they were for- 
warded to their destination, in some cases stealing horses 
from the United States corrals on their way. While 
awaiting an occasion to be sent South, the men, to avoid 
suspicion, wdiich might be excited by their being seen 
together in any considerable number, were often em- 
ployed on farms in the vicinity of Louisville, and the 
farm of one Grant in that neigliborhood, (at whose 
house, also, meetings of the order were held,) is indi- 
cated in the testimony as one of the localities where 
such recruits were rendezvoused and employed. 

The same facilities which were afforded to recruits 
for the Southern army were also furnished by the Or- 
der to persons desiring to proceed beyond our lines for 
any illegal purpose. By these Louisville was generally 
preferred as a point of departure, and, on the Missis- 
sippi river, a particular steamer, the Graham, was 
selected as the safest conveyance. 

6. Furnishing the rebels zuith Arms^ Ammunition 
etc. — In this, too, the Order, and especially its femal- 
members and alUes, has been sedulously engaged. The 
rebel women of Louisville and Kentucky are repre- 



280 THE GREAT TREASON PLOT 

sented as having rendered the most valuable aid to the 
Southern army, by transporting large quantities of per- 
cussion caps, powder, etc., concealed upon their persons, 
to some convenient locality near the lines, whence they 
could be readily conveyed to the persons for whom 
they were intended. It is estimated that at Louisville, 
up to May ist last, the sum of $17,000 had been 
invested by the Order in ammunition and arms, to be 
forwarded principally in this manner to the rebels. In 
St. Louis several firms, who are well known to the 
Government, the principal of which is Beauvais & Co., 
have been engaged in supplying arms and ammunition 
to members of the Order, to be conveyed to their 
Southern allies. Mary Ann Pitman, a reliable witness, 
and a member of the Order of American Knights, who 
will hereafter be especially alluded to, states in her tes- 
timony that she visited Beauvais & Co. three times, and 
procured from them on each occasion about $80 worth 
of caps, besides a number ot pistols and cartridges, 
which she carried in person to Forrest's command, as 
well as a much larger quantity of similar articles which 
she caused to be forwarded by other agents. The 
guerrillas in Missouri also received arms from St. 
Louis, and one Douglas, one of the most active con- 
spirators of the Order of American Knights in Mis- 
souri, and a special emissary of Price, was arrested 
while in the act of transporting a box of forty revolvers 
by railroad to a guerrilla camp in the interior of the 
State. Supplies were, in some cases, conveyed to the 
enemy through the medium of professed loyalists, who, 
having received permits for that purpose from the 
United States military authorities, would forward their 



DURING THEjWAR. 28l 

goods as if for ordinary purposes of trade, to a certain 
point near the rebel lines, where, by the connivance of 
the owners, the enemy would be enabled to seize them. 

7. Co-operating with the Enemy in Raids and In- 
vasions. — While it is clear that the Order has given aid, 
both directly and indirectly, to the forces of the rebels, 
and to guerrilla bands, when engaged in making incur- 
sions into the border States, yet because, on the one 
hand, of the constant restraint upon its action exercised 
by our military authorities, and, on the other, of the 
general success of our armies in the field over those of 
the enemy, their allies at the North have never thus far 
been able to carry out then- grand plan of a general 
armed rising of the Order, and its co-operation on an 
extended scale with the Southern forces — a result, in 
great part, owing to the activity of our military author- 
ities in strengthening the detachments at the prisons, 
arsenals, etc., and in causing the arrest of the leading con- 
spirators in the several States, and especially in fhe seiz- 
ure of large quantities of arms which had been shipped 
for the use of the Order m their intended outbreak. It 
was doubtless on account of these precautions that the 
day last appointed for the rising of the (^rder in Indiana 
and Kentucky (August 16) passed by with but slight 
disorder. 

With guerrillas, the order has always most readily 
acted along the border, and in ca^es of capture by the 
Union forces of Northern members of the Order 
engaged in co-operating with them, the guerrillas have 
frequently retaliated by seizing prominent Union citi- 
zens and holding them as hostages for the release of 



282 THE GREAT TREASON PLOT 

their allies. At other times our Government has 
been officially notified by the rebel authorities that if 
the members of the Order captured were not treated by 
us as ordinary prisoners of war, retaliation would be 
resorted to. 

A singular feature of the raids of the enemy remains 
only to be adverted to, viz: that the officers conducting 
these raids are furnished by the rebel Government with 
quantities of United States Treasury notes for use with- 
in our lines, and that these are probably most frequently 
procured through the agency of members of the Order. 

Mary Ann Pitman states that Forrest, of the rebel 
army, at one time exhibited to her a letter to himself 
from a prominent rebel sympathizer and member of the 
Order in Washington, D. C, in which it was set forth 
that the sum of $20,000 in "greenbacks" had actually 
been forwarded by him to the rebel Government at 
Richmond. 

There is no doubt that large quantities of Govern- 
ment property have been burned or otherwise destroyed 
by the agency of the Order in different localities. At 
Louisville, in the case of the steamer, Taylor, and on 
the Mississippi river, steamers belonging to the United 
States have been burned at the wharves, and generally 
when loaded with Government stores. 

It is reported by General Carrington that the full 
development of the Order in Indiana was followed by a 
"state of terrorism among the Union residents" of por- 
tions of Brown, Morgan, Johnson, Rush, Clay, Sulli- 
van, Bartholomew, Hendricks and other Counties" in the 
State; that from some localities individuals were driven 



DURING THE WAR. 283 

away altogether; that in others their barns, hay and 
wheat-racks were burned ; and that many persons, under 
the general insecurity of life and property, sold their 
effects* at a sacrifice and removed to other places. At 
one time in Brown county, the members of the Order 
openly threatened the lives of all "Abolitionists" who 
refused to sign a peace memorial which they had pre- 
pared and addressed to Congress. In Missouri, also, 
similar outrages committed upon the property of loyal 
citizens are attributable in a great degree to the secret 
Order. 

Here the outbreak of the miners in the coal districts 
of Eastern Pennsylvania, in the Autumn of last year, 
may be appropriately referred to. It is fully shown in 
the testimony adduced, upon the trials of these insur- 
gents, who were guilty of the destruction of property 
and numerous acts of violence, as well as murder, 
that they were generally members of a secret treason- 
able association, similar in all respects to the Knights 
of the Golden Circle, at the meetings of which they 
incited to the commission of crimes for which they 
were tried and convicted. 



284 THE GREAT TREASON PLOT 



CHAPTER XXIII. 
Assassination and Murder. 

After what has been disclosed in regard to this 
infamous league of traitors and ruffians, it will not be a 
matter of surprise to learn that the cold-blooded assassi- 
nation of Union citizens and soldiers has been included 
in their devilish scheme of operations. At Louisville, in 
June last, a scheme was discussed among the Order for 
the waylaying and butchering of negro soldiers in the 
streets at night; and in the same month a party of its 
members in that city was actually organized for the 
purpose of throwing off the track of the Nashville rail- 
road, a train of colored troops and seizing the opportu- 
nity of taking the lives of as many as possible. Again, 
in July, the assassination of an obnoxious provost 
marshal, by betraying him into the hands of guerillas, 
was designed by members in the interior of Kentucky. 
Further, at a meeting of the Grand Council of Indian- 
apolis on Tune 14th last, the murder of one Coffin, a 



DURING THE WAR. 285 

Government detective, w^ho, as it was supposed, had 
betrayed the Order, was deliberately discussed and 
unanimously determined upon. This fact is stated by 
Stidger in his report to General Canington of June 17th 
last, and is more fully set forth in his testimony upon 
the trial of Dodd. He deposes that at the meeting- in 
questior, Dodd hiinself volunteered to go to Hamilton, 
Ohio, where Coffin was expected to be found, and there 
"dispose of the latter." He adds that prior to the meet- 
ing, he himself conveyed from Judge Bullitt, at Louis- 
ville, to Bowles and Dodd, at Indianapolis, special 
instructions to have Coffin " put out of the way " — 
" murdered " — " at all hazards." 

The opinion is expressed by Col. Sanderson, under 
date of June 12th last, that "the recent numerous cold- 
blooded assassinations of military officers and uncondi- 
tional Union men throughout the military district of 
North Missouri, especially along the 'western border," 
is to be ascribed to the agency of the order. The wit- 
ness Pitman represents that it is " a part of the obliga- 
tion or understanding of the Order to kill officers and 
soldiers " ivhenever ii can be done by stealthy as well as 
loyal citizens when considered important or influential 
persons; and she adds, that while at Memphis, during 
the past Summer, she knexv that men on picket were 
secretly killed by members of the Order approaching 
them in disguise. 

In this connection may be recalled the wholesale 
assassination of Union soldiers by members of the Order 
and their confederates at Charleston, Illinois, in March 
last, in regard to which, as a startling episode of the 



286 THE GREAT TREASON PLOT 

rebellion, a full report was addressed from this office to 
the President, under date of July 26th last. 

In concluding this review of some of the principal 
specific purposes of the order, it remains only to remark 
upon a further design of many of its leading members, 
the accomplishment of which they are represented as 
having deeply at heart. These men have made the 
establishment of a Western or North-western Confed- 
eracy, in alliance with the South, the grand aim and 
end of all their plotting and conspiring. It is with this 
steadily in prospect that they are constantly seeking to 
produce discontent, disorganization, and civil disorder 
at the North. Futile and extravagant as this scheme 
may appear, it is yet the settled purpose of many lead- 
ing spirits of the secret conspiracy, and is their favorite 
subject of thought and discussion. Not only is this 
scheme deliberated upon in the lodges of the Order, but 
it is openly proclaimed. Members of the Indiana Leg- 
islature, even, have publicly announced it, and avowed 
that they will take their own State out of the Union, 
and recognize the independence of the South. A citi- 
zen captured by a guerrilla band in Kentucky last Sum- 
mer, records the fact that the establishment of a new 
confederacy as the deliberate purpose of the Western 
people was boastfully asserted by these outlaws, who 
also assured their prisoner that in the event of such 
establishment there would be " a greater rebellion than 
ever!" 

Lastly, it is claimed that the new confederacy is 
already organized ; that it has a " provisional govern- 
ment," officers, departments, bureaus, etc., in secret 



DURING THE WAR. 287 

operation. No comment is necessary to be made upon 
this treason, not now contemplated for the first time in 
our history. Suggested by the present rebelHon, it is 
the logical consequence of the ardent and utter sympa- 
thy therewith which is the life and inspiration of the 
secret order. 

The facts detailed in the present report have been 
derived from a great variety of dissimilar sources, but 
all the witnesses, however different their situations, con- 
cur so pointedly in their testimony, that the evidence 
which has thus been furnished must be accepted as of an 
entirely satisfactory character. The principal witnesses 
may be classified as follows: 

Shrewd, intelligent men, employed as detectives, and 
with a peculiar talent for their calling, who have grad- 
ually gained the confidence of leading members of the 
Order, and in some cases have been admitted to its 
temples and been initiated into one or more of the 
degrees. The most remarkable of these is Stidger, for- 
merly a private soldier in our army, who by the use of 
an uncommon address, though at great risk, succeeded 
in establishing such intimate relations with Bowles, 
Bullitt, Dodd, and other leaders of the Order in Indiana 
and Kentucky, as to be appointed Grand Secretary for 
the latter State, a position the most favorable for 
obtaining information of the plans of these traitors and 
warning the Government of their intentions. 

2. Rebel officers and soldiers voluntar ily orinvolun- 
tarily making disclosures to our military authorities. 
The most valuable witnesses of this class are prisoners 
of war, who, actuated by laudable motives, have, of 




ATTEMPT TO CAPTURE U. S. WAR STEAMER "MICHIGAN" ON 
LAKE ERIE. 



DURING THE WAR. 289 

their own accord furnished a large amount of informa- 
tion in regard to the Order, especially as it exists in the 
South, and of the relations of its members with those 
of the Northern section. Among these, also, are 
soldiers at our prison camps, who, without designing it, 
have made known to our officials, by the use of signs, 
etc., of the Order, that they were members. 

3. Scouts employed to travel through the interior of 
the border States, and also within or in the neighbor- 
hood of the enemy's lines. The fact that some of these 
were left entirely ignorant of the existence of the 
Order, upon being so employed, attaches an increased 
value to their discoveries in regard to its operations. 

4. Citizen prisoners, to whom, while in confinement, 
disclosures were made relative to the existence, extent, 
and character of the Order, by fellow prisoners who 
were leading members, and who, in some instances, 
upon becoming intimate with the witness, initiated him 
into one of the degrees. 

' 5. Members of the Order, who, upon a full acquain- 
tance with its principles, have been appalled by its 
infamous designs, and have voluntarily abandoned it, 
freely making known their experience to our military 
authorities. In this class may be placed the female 
witness, Mary Ann Pitmann, who, though in arrest at 
the period of her disclosures, was yet induced to make 
them for the reason that, as she says " at the last meet- 
ing which I attended they passed an order which I 
considered as utterly atrocious and barbarous; so I told 
them I would have nothing more to do with them." 
This woman was attached to the command of the rebel 



290 THE GREAT TREASON PLOT 

Forrest, as an officer under the name of "Lieutenant 
Rawley;" but, because her sex afforded her unusual 
facilities for crossing^ our lines, she was often 
employed in the execution of important commissions 
within our territory, and, as a member of the Order, 
was made extensively acquainted with other members, 
both of the Northern and Southern sections. Her tes- 
timony is thus peculiarly valuable, and being a person 
of unusual intelligence and force of character, her 
statements are succinct, pointed and emphatic. They 
are also especially useful as fully corroborating those of 
other witnesses regarded as most trustworthy. 

6. Officers of the Order of high rank, who have 
been prompted to present confessions, more or less 
detailed, in regard to the Order and their connection 
with it. The principals of these are Hunt, Dunn and 
Smith, Grand Commander, Deputy Grand Commander 
and Grand Secretary of the Order in Missouri, to 
whose statements frequent reference has been made. 
These confessions, though in some degree guarded and 
disingenuous, have furnished to the Government much 
important information as to the operations of the Order, 
especially in Missouri, the affiiiatmn of its leaders with 
Price, etc. It is to be noted that Dunn makes the state- 
ment in common wich other witnesses that, in entering 
the Order he was quite ignorant of its ultimate purposes. 
He says: "I did not become a member understand- 
ingly; the initiatory step was taken in the dark, without 
reflection and without knowledge." 

7. Deserters from our army, who, upon being ap- 
prehended, confessed that they had been induced and 



DURING THE WAR. 291 

assisted to desert by members of the Order. It was, 
indeed, principally from these confessions that the exist- 
ence of the secret treasonable organization of the 
Knights of the Golden Circle was first discovered in In- 
diana, in the year 1863. 

8. Writers of anonymous communications, addressed 
to the heads of departments or Provost Marshals, dis- 
closing facts corroborative of other more important 
statements. 

9. The witnesses before the Grand Jury at Indiana- 
polis, in 1863, when the Order was formally presented 
as a treasonable organization, and those whose testimony 
has been recently introduced upon the trial of Dodd. 

It need only be added that a most satisfactory test of 
the credibility and weight of much of the evidence 
which has been furnished, is afforded by the printed 
testimony in regard to the character and intention of the 
Order, which is found in its National and State consti- 
tutions and its ritual. Indeed, the statements of the 
various witnesses are but presentations of the logica 
and inevitable consequences and results of the principles 
therein set forth. 

In concluding this review, it rem.ains only to state 
that a constant reference has been made to the elaborate 
official reports, in regard to the order of Brigadier Gen- 
eral Carrington, commanding the District of Indiana, 
and of Colonel Sanderson, Provost Marshal General 
of the Department of Missouri. The great mass of the 
testimony upon the subject of this conspiracy has been 
furnished by these officers; the latter acting under the 
orders of Major General Rosecrans, and the former co- 



292 THE GREAT TREASON PLOT 

operating under the instructions of the Secretary of War, 
with Major General Burbridge, commanding the Dis- 
trict of Kentucky, as well as with Governor Morton, of 
Indiana, who, though at one time greatly embarrassed, 
by a Legislature strongly tainted with disloyalty, in his 
efforts to repress this domestic enemy, has at last seen 
his State relieved from the danger of a civil war. 

But although the treason of the Order has been thor- 
oughly exposed, and although its capacity for fatal mis- 
chief has, by means of the arrest of its leaders, the seiz- 
ure of its arms, and the other vigorous means which 
have been pursued, been serious!}^ impaired, it is still 
busied with its plottings against the Government, and 
with its perfidious designs in aid of the Southern rebell*- 
ion. It is reported to have recently adopted new signs 
and passwords, and its members assert that foul means 
will be used to prevent the success of the Administra- 
tion at the coming election, and threaten an extended 
revolt in the event of the re-election of President Lin- 
coln.* 

In the presence of the rebellion and of this secret 
Order — which is but its echo and faithful ally — we can- 
not but be amazed at the utter and widespread profli- 
gacy, personal and political, which these movements 
against the Government disclose. The guilty men en- 
gaged in them, after casting aside their allegiance, seem 



*This was the period when the plotting of the Conspirators, under the name 
" Sons of Liberty," became most active and most dangerous in ("hicago, Illi- 
nois.— plots foiled by the author of this work and his men, as certified to by the 
most eminent oilicials, civil and military, of the Nation. Every thinking mind 
cognizant of the facts, must concede that had not the conspiracy in Illinois 
been fully and promptly disclosed to the Government, the proceedings against 
the treasonable orders in Indiana and elsewhere would have been of no avail, 
for the primary and subsequent plots would most certainly have been executed 
in all their horrid details. 



DURING THE WAR. 293 

to have trodden under foot every sentiment of honor and 
and every restraint of law, human and divine. Judea 
produced but one Judas Iscariot, and Rome, from the 
sinks of iier deinoraHzation, produced but one CatiHne; 
and yet, as events prove, there has arisen together in 
our land an entire brood of such traitors, all animated 
by the same parricidal spirit, and all struo^gling with 
the same relentless malignity for the dismemberment of 
our Union. Of this extraordinary phenomenon — not 
paralelled, it is believed, in the world's history — there 
can be but one explanation, and all these blackened and 
fetid streams of crime may well be traced to the same 
common fountain. So fiercely intolerant and imperious 
was the temper engendered by slavery, that when the 
Southern people, after having controlled the national 
councils for half a century, were beaten at an election, 
their leaders turned upon the Government with the 
insolent fury v*ath which they would have drawn their 
revolvers on a rebellious slave, i.n one of their negro 
quarters; and they have continued since to prosecute 
their warfare, amid all the barbarisms and atrocities 
naturally and necessarily inspired by the infernal insti- 
tution in whose interests they are sacrificing alike them- 
selves and their country. Many of these conspirators, 
as is well known, were fed, clothed and educated at the 
expense of the nation, and were loaded witli its honors 
at the very moment they struck at its life with the 
horrible criminality of a son stabbing the bosom of his 
own mother while impressing kisses on his cheeks. 
The leaders of the traitors in the loyal States, who so 
completely fraternize with these conspirators, and whose 



294 THE GREAT TREASON PLOT 

machinations are now unmasked, it is as clearly the 
duty of the Administration to prosecute and punish, 
as it is the duty to subjugate the rebels who are openly 
in arms against the Government. In the performance 
of this duty, it is entitled to expect, and will doubtless 
receive, the zealous co-operation of true men every- 
where, who, in crushing the truculent foe ambushed in 
the haunts of this secret Order, should rival in courage 
and faithfulness the soldiers who are so nobly sustaining 
our flag on the battle-fields of the South. 

J. Holt, Judge Advocate General. 
War Department, Bureau of Military Justice, Wash- 
ington, D. C, October 8, 1864. 




..&^ 



INFERNAL MACHINES. 
[See Explanation Page xvi.] 



THE GREAT TREASON PLOT 



CHAPTER XXIV. 
Assassination in this CoUxNTky and in Eurote 
— Many Historical Facts of Greatest In- 
terest. 

The follovvin^^ article, froin the pen of Hon. C. C. 
Haze well, which appeared in the Atlantic Monthly 
for 1S65, and which, by the courtesy of Messrs. 
Houghton, Mifflin & Company, the publishers, we are 
permitted to copy, will be read with especial interest: 

"The assassination of President Lincoln threw the 
whole Nation into mourning, — the few exceptions to 
those who deplored the President's violent and untimeW 
end only serving to make the general regret the more 
manifest. Of all our Presidents since Washington, Mr 
Lincoln had excited the smallest amount of that feeling 
which places its object in personal danger. He was a 
man who made a singularly favorable impression on 
those who approached him, resembling in that respect 
President Jackson, who often made warm friends of 
bitter foes, when circumstances had forced them to seek 
his presence; and it is probable, that, if he and the hon- 



DURING THE WAR. 297 

est chiefs of the Rehels could have been brought face to 
face, there never would have been civil war, — at least 
any contest of grand proportions; for he would not have 
failed to convince them that all that they had any right 
to claim, and therefore all that they could expect their 
fellow-citizens to fight for, would be more secure under 
his government than it had been under the governments 
of such men as Pierce and Buchanan, who made use of 
sectionalism and slavery to promote the selfish interests 
of themselves and their party. The estimation in which 
he was latterly held by the most intelligent of the 
Secessionists indicates, that, had they been acquainted 
with him, their Secessionism never would have got be- 
yond the nullification of the Palmetto Nullifiers; and 
that was all fury and fuss, without any fighting in it. 
Ignorance was the parent of the civil war, as it has 
been the parent of many other evils, — ignorance of the 
character and purpose of the man who was chosen Pres- 
ident in 1 860-6 1, and who entered upon official life 
with less amimosity toward his opponents than ever be- 
fore or since had been felt by a man elected to a great 
place, after a bitter and exciting contest. There is not 
the slightest reason for doubting the sincerity of Mr. 
Lincoln's declaration, that his administration should be 
Constitutional in its character; nor can it be said that 
the earlier Rebels ever supposed that he would invade 
their Constitutional rights. They rebelled because cir- 
cumstances enabled them to attempt the realization of 
their long-cherished dream of a slave-holding Confed- 
eracy, and because they saw that never again, in their 
time, would another such opportunity be offered to ef- 
fect a traitorous purpose. 



298 THE GREAT TREASON PLOT 

It was clear to every mind that a year of quiet under 
the new administration would dispel the delusion that 
the North was about to overthrow the old polity ; and 
therefore the violent men of the South were determined 
that that administration never should have a fair trial. 
Their action at Charleston, in iS6o, by rendering the 
election of the Republican candidate certain, shows that 
they wished an occasion for revolt; and the course of 
President Buchanan, who refused to take the common- 
est precautions for the public safety, gave them a vant- 
age-ground which they speedily occupied, and so made 
war inevitable. 

That one of the most insignificant of their number 
should have murdered the man whose election they 
declared to be cause for war is nothing strange, being 
in perfect keeping with their whole course. 

The wretch who shot the chief magistrate of the 
Republic is of hardly more account than was the 
weapon which he used. The real murderers of Mr. 
Lincoln are the men whose action brought about the 
civil war. Booth's deed was a logical proceeding fol- 
lowing strictly from the principles avowed by the 
Rebels, and in harmony with their course during the 
last five years. The fall of a public man by the hand 
of an assassin always affects the mind more strongly 
than it is affected by the fall of thousands of men in 
battle; but, in strictness, Booth, vile as his deed was, can 
be held to have been no worse, morally, than was that 
old gentleman who insisted upon being allowed the 
privilege of firing the first shot at Fort Sumter. Ruf- 
fin's act is not so disgusting as Booth's; but of the two 



DURING THE WAR. 299 

men, Booth exhibited the greater courage, — courage of 
the basest kind, indeed, but sure to be attended with 
the heaviest risks, as the hand of every man woukl be 
directed against its exhibitor. 

Had the Rebels succeeded, Ruffin would have been 
honored by his fellows; but even a successful Southern 
Confederacy would have been too hot a country for the 
abode of a willful murderer. Such a man would have 
been no more pleasantly situated even in South Caro- 
lina than was Benedict Arnold in England. And as 
he chose to become an asssassin after the event of the 
war had been decided, and when his victim was bent 
upon sparing Southern feeling, so far as it could be 
spared without injustice being done to the country, 
Booth must have expected to find his act condemned by 
every rational Southern man as a worse than useless 
crime, as a blunder of the very first magnitude. Had he 
succeeded in getting abroad. Secession exiles would have 
shunned him, and have treated him as one who had 
brought an ineffaceable stain on their cause, and also 
had rendered their' restoration to their homes im- 
possible. 

The pistol shot of Sergeant Corbett saved him from 
the gallows, and it saved him also from the denuncia- 
tions of the men whom he thought to serve. He exhi- 
bited, therefore, a species of courage that is by no means 
common; for he not only risked his life, and rendered it 
impossible for honorable men to sympathize with him, 
but he ran the hazard of being denounced and cast off 
by his own party. This places him above those who 
would have assassinated their country, but who took 



300 THE GREAT TREASON PLOT 

care to keep themselves within the rules of honorable 
action, as the world counts honor. He perilled every- 
thing, while they staked only their lives and their prop- 
erty. Their success would have justified them in gen- 
eral estimation, but his success would have been his 
ruin. He was fortunate in meeting death so soon, and 
not less so in the mode of his exit from the stage of life. 

All Secessionists who retain any self-respect must re- 
joice that one whose doings brought additional igno- 
miny on a cause that could not well bear it, has passed 
away and gone to his account. It would have been 
more satisfactory to loyal men if he had been reserved 
for the gallows; but even they must admit that it is a 
terrible trial to any people who get possession of an 
odious criminal, because they may be led so to act as to 
disgrace themselves, and to turn sympathy in the direc- 
tion of the evil-doer. No fouler murder ever was per- 
petrated than that of which Booth was guilty; and had 
he been taken alive and sound, it is possible that our 
conduct would not have been of such a character as it 
would have been pleasing to think of after our just pas- 
sion should have cooled. We should recollect, that, a 
hundred and sixty years after its occurrence, the shout- 
ing of Englishmen over the verdict of Guilty^ rendered 
against Charnock and his associates, because of their 
part in the Assassination Plot, is condemned by the 
greatest of English historians, who was the last man to 
be suspected of sympathizing with men who sought to 
murder William HI. 

A disposition to insult the fallen, no matter how vile 
may be their offences, or how just their fall, is not an 



DURING THE WAR. 301 

American characteristic; but so wide-spread and well- 
founded was the indignation caused by the basest mur- 
der of modern times, that we might have been unjust to 
ourselves, if the murderer had come whole into our 
hands. Therefore the shot of Sergeant Corbett is not 
to be regretted, save that it gave too honorable a form 
of death to one who had earned all that there is of a dis- 
graceful character in that mode of dying to which a 
peculiar stigma is attached by the common consent of 
mankind. 

Whether Booth was the agent of a band of conspira- 
tors, or was one of a few vile men who sought an 
odious immortality, it is impossible to say. We have 
the authority of a high Government official for the 
statement that "the President's murder was organized 
in Canada and approved at Richmond;" but the evi- 
dence in support of this extraordinary announcement is, 
doubtless for the best of reasons, withheld at the time 
we write. There is nothing improbable in the supposi- 
tion that the assassination plot was formed in Canada, 
as some of the vilest miscreants of the Secession side 
have been allowed to live in that country. We know 
that there were other plots formed in that country 
against us, — plots that were to a certain extent carried 
into execution, and which led to loss of life. 

The ruffians who were engaged in the St. Albans 
raid — which was as much an insult to England, as it 
was a wrong to us — were exactly the sort of men to 
engage in a conspiracy to murder Federal magistrates; 
but it is not probable that British subjects had anything 
to do with any conspiracy of this kind. The Canadian 




HON. AUSTIN BLAIR, WAR GOVERNOR OF MICHIGAN. 



DURING THE WAR. 803 

error was in allowing the scum of Secession to abuse 
the " right of hospitality " through the pursuit of hostile 
action against us from the territory of a neutral. If 
injustice is done their country in this instance, Cana- 
dians should recollect that what is known to have been 
done there for our mjury, is quite suf^cient to warrant 
the suspicions that more was there done to increase the 
difficulties of our situation than now distinctly appears. 

The country that contains such justices as Coursol 
and Smith cannot complain, if its sense of fairness is 
not rated very high by its neighbors, — neighbors who 
have suffered from Secessionists allowed to make Can- 
ada a basis of operations against the United States, 
though the United States and Great Britain are at 
peace. 

That a plan to murder President Lincoln should have 
been approved at Richmond, is nothing strange; and 
though such approval would have been supremely fool- 
ish, what but supreme folly is the chief characteristic of 
the whole Southern movement? If the seal of Ricli- 
mond's approval was placed on a plan formed in Can- 
ada, something more than the murder of Mr. Lincoln 
was intended. It must have been meant to kill every 
man who could legally take his place, either as Presi- 
dent or President fro tempore. The only persons who 
had any title to step into the Presidency, on Mr. Lin- 
coln's death, were Mr. Johnson, who became President 
on the 15th of April, and Mr. Foster, one of the Con- 
necticut Senators, who is President of the Senate. 
There was no Speaker of the House of Representatives; 
so that one of the officers designated temporarily to act 



304 THE GREAT TREASON PLOT 

as President, on the occurrence of a vacancy, had no 
existence at the time of Mr. Lincohi's death, has none 
at this time, and can have none until Congress shall 
have met, and the House of Representatives have chosen 
its j^residing officer. 

It does not appear that any attempt was made on the 
life of Mr. Foster, though Mr. Johnson was on the list 
of those doomed by the assassins; and the savage attack 
made on Mr. Seward shows what those assassins were 
capable of. But had all the members of the Adminis- 
tration been struck down at the same time, it is not at 
all probable that " anarchy " would have been the effect, 
though to produce that must have been the object aimed 
at by the conspirators. Anarchy is not so easily brought 
about as persons of an anarchical turn of mind suppose. 
The training we have gone through since the close of 
i860, has fitted us to bear many rude assaults on order 
without our becoming disorderl}^ Our conviction is, 
that, if every man who held high office at Washington 
had been killed, on the 14th of April, things would gone 
pretty much as we have seen them go, and that thus the 
American people would have vindicated their right to 
be considered a self-governing race. 

It would not be a very flattering thought, that the 
peace of the country is at the command of any dozen of 
hardened ruffians who should have the capacity to form 
an assassination plot, the discretion to keep silent respect- 
ing their purpose, and the boldness and the skill requisite 
to carry it out to its utmost minute details: for the neg- 
lect of one of these details might be fatal to the whole 
project. Society does not exist in such peril as that. 



DURING THE WAR. 805 

Does any one suppose, that, if the Gunpowder Plot 
had been a success, — that, if Kings, Lords, and Com- 
mons had all been hoisted by Mr. Fawkes, the English 
nation would have gone to wreck, that it could not have 
survived the loss of most of the royal family, the 
greater part of the peerage, and most of the gentlemen 
who had been chosen to serve in the House of Com- 
mons? England would have survived such a blow as 
that blowing-up would have inflicted on her, though 
for the time she might have been in a very confused 
condition; and so we should have survived — and we 
believe without exhibiting much confusion — all the 
efforts of assassins to murder our leading men, had those 
efforts been entirely successful. 

It is possible, and indeed very probable, that Booth and 
his associates were originally moved to become assassins 
by that sentiment which has caused many other men to 
assail public characters, and sometimes with the bloodi- 
est success. This supposition does not exclude the 
action of more eminent persons from the tragedy, who 
may have urged on those hot-headed fools to the com- 
pletion of their work. Booth was precisely that sort of 
man who was likely to be the victim of the astounding 
delusion that to kill President Lincoln would be to place 
him in history alongside of those immortal tyrant-killers 
whose names are in most people's mouths, and whose 
conduct is seldom condemned and very often is warmly 
approved. 

There is constant praise going on of those who, in 
classic times, put to death men who have held, or 
aspired to obtain, improper power, or whose conduct 



306 THE GREAT TREASON PLOT 

was cruel. Booth thought that Mr. Lincoln was a 
usurper, and that his conduct was cruel; and he conld 
have cited abundance of evidence from the speeches 
and writings of Northern men, professing to be sound 
Unionists, in support of the position that the President 
was a usurper and a tyrant. 

Having convinced himself that such was the position 
and character of the President, it was the most natural 
thing in the world that he, a Southern man, and brought 
up on those sensational tragedies in which human life 
is easily taken on all occasions, should have jumped at 
the conclusion that it was his duty to kill the man 
whose plan and action he had so strangely misconceived. 
If, while he was thus deluding himself with the notion 
that he was about to rival Harmodious and Aristogei- 
ton, and other Grecian foes of tyrants, there- came to 
him men who had too much sense to be deluded by 
such nonsense, but who, nevertheless, were not above 
profiting, as they regarded profit, from his folly, it is 
all but certain that he may have had accomplices who 
have not as yet been suspected, persons to whom 
exposure would be much greater punishment than death. 
Those old Greek and Roman writers have much to 
answer for as they have conferred a sort of sancity upon 
assassination, provided the victim be rightly selected; 
and who is to decide whether he is so selected or not? 
If murderers are to decide upon the deserts of their 
victim, there never was a murder committed. 

Much of the literature that furnishes material for the 
instruction of youth, is devoted to the laudation of blood 
shedding, provided always the blood that is shed is that 



DURING THE WAR. 307 

of a tyrant; and who is to say whether it is so or not? 
Why, the tyrant-killer, to be sure. This is an admir- 
able arrangement for securing simplicity of proceedings, 
but it admits of some doubt whether it can be quite ap- 
proved on the score of impartiality. When a man 
unites in his own person the characters of accuser, 
judge and executioner, it is within the limits of possibil- 
ity that he may be slightly untrustworthy. But in what 
is known as classical literature, not only are tyrant- 
slayers allowed to have their own way and say, but their 
action is upheld and defended by great geniuses, who 
never killed anybody with their own hands, but who 
had a marvellous fondness for those whose hands were 
blood-stained. 

Cicero, for example, is never tired of sounding the 
praises of eminent homicides. He scarcely praised him- 
self more than he eulogized illustrious murderers of 
other days. And on his own eloquent words in honor 
of assassination are the "ingenuous youth" of Christian 
countries trained and taught. That some of them 
should go astray under such teaching is nothing to 
wonder at. This has happened in other countries, and 
why should it not happen here? Assassination is not 
an American crime; *but it is not the less true that 
Brutuses have been invoked in this country, and that 



* The word assassin, according to that eminent Orientalist, Sylvester de 
Lacy, is derived from hashish, being the liquid preparation on which the Old 
Man of the Mountain used to intoxicate his operators,. and which appears to 
have been an uncommonly powerful tipple. The men whom he thus drugged 
or hocused, when they were tocoramit murder were called, in Arabic, haslii- 
shin in the plural, and Hashishi in the singular. The Crusaders brought the 
word from the East. The ancients had not the word, but they had the thing, 
as the English suffer from ennui, but have no name for it. A -temperance 
lecturer might turn this connection between bjjnd drunkenness and reckless 
murder to some good purpose. 



808 THE GREAT TREASON PLOT 

more than once President Jackson was pointed out as 
one from whose tyranny the country might advantage- 
ously be relieved after the high Roman fashion. One 
man fired at him,-— an Englishman, named Laurence, in 
1834; but he proved to be insane, and was treated as a 
madman. Lieutenant Randolph, a Virginian, assaulted 
President Jackson, but not with the view to assassinate 
him. Brook's assault on Senator Sumner was an assas- 
sin's act, and a far more cowardly deed than that which 
Booth perpetrated, though it had a less tragical termin- 
ation. The assassinating spirit has been increasing fast 
in the South, which is one proof of the growth of the 
aristocratical sentiment there, — assassination being much 
more in vogue among aristocrats than among monarch- 
ists, or democrats, and most of the renowned assassins 
and conspirators having been aristocrats. 

It denotes the change in our condition that has been 
wrought by slavery and civil war, that assassination 
should have been much talked of here, and that at least 
the head of the Republic should have fallen before an 
assassin's fire. 

In other countries assassination has often been resorted 
to by parties and by individuals, but until very recently 
no public man can be said to have been taken off by an 
assassin in America. Booth and his associates stand 
alone in our history. Others may have talked pistols 
and daggers, but it was left for them to use weapons so 
odious for purposes of the same nature. Under the 
belief that the reader may not be indisposed to see what 
has been done by assassins in other countries, we shall 
here cite some remarkable instances of their deeds, pass- 
ing over classic antiquity and modern Italy. 



DtrRINa THE WAR. 809 



CHAPTER XXIV. 
Murder's Golden Age — Fierce struggle of 

IDEAS OLD AND NEW PhILIP II. OlD MaN OF 

THE Mountain. — Argument of the Assassin. 

In the sixteenth century, assassination flourished to 
an extent never before or since known: the hundred 
years that followed Luther's appearance on the great 
stage forming murder's golden age, whether we con- 
sider the number or the quality of the persons slain or 
conspired against, or the sort of persons who conde- 
scended to act on the principle that killing is no mur- 
der. 

Reformers and reactionists had their assassins; but it 
must be acknov/ledged that the latter had the best 
(which was the worst) of the game, so that nearly all 
the infamous names that have come down to us won 
immortality in their service. It was a great, a stirring 
ime, one that was fertile in the manner of crimes, and 



310 THE GREAT TREASON PLOT 

ill which a gentleman that had much nerve, and no 
scruples, was sure of constant and well-paid employ- 
ment, and might make his fortune — or that of his 
family, if he chanced to be cut off because he had cut 
down some eminent personage whose life was a great 
inconvenience to this or that sovereign or party. 

The conflict that was waged was one of opinion, and 
therefore was fertile of fanatics, a class of men who 
luive furnished a large force of assassins, who hav,e 
generally acted on principle, without always being 
heedless of their interests. In the fierce struggle 
between old ideas and new, every weapon was employed, 
and the talents and dispositions of all kinds of men 
were made available by the great managers, who had 
the casting of the performers, in the numerous tragedies 
that were played. There was not a country in which 
assassination was unknown; and in most countries it was 
common, kings and churchmen being its patrons, and 
not unfrequently perished by the very arts which under 
their fostering care had been carried to the highest pitch 
of artistic perfection. 

Philip II was the most powerful monarch of those 
days. His regal career began just as the Reformation 
was at its height, and when the Reaction was about to 
begin. He was a sort of Christian Old Man of the 
Mountain; and assassination w^as with him a regular 
business, a portion of his mode of governing the many 
races that owned his sway. Mignet, in his "Antonio 
Perez et Philippe II.," after mentioning that Philip 
gave instructions to put Escovedo to death, says, — 
" This order would appear strange on the part of the 



DURING THE WAR. 3ll 

King, if we did not call to mind the practices as well as 
the theories of that violent age, so fertile in assassina- 
tions. Death was then the last argument of belief, the 
extreme, but frequent means employed by parties, kings 
and subjects. They were not satisfied with killing; they 
believed they had the right. Certain casuists attributed 
this right, some to princes, others to the people. Here 
is what the friar Diego de Chaves, Philip's confessor, 
wrote upon the very subject of Escovedo's death: 

'According to my view of the laws, the secular prince 
who has power over the life of his inferiors or subjects, 
even as he can deprive them of it for a just cause, and 
by judgment in form, may also do so without all this, 
since superfluous forms and all judicial proceedings are 
no laws for him who may dispense with them. It is, 
consequently, no crime on the part of a subject, who, by 
a sovereign order, has put another subject to death. We 
must believe that the prince has given this order for a 
just cause, even as the law always presumes that there 
is one in all the actions of the sovereign.' " 

When such a king as Philip II. has such a ghostly 
father as Diego de Chaves, assassination may become 
common. Escovedo w^as murdered, but there were 
others besides the King concerned in his taking off, one 
of them being the Princess of Eboli, widow of Philip's 
first favorite, Ruy Gomez de Silva, and Antonio Perez; 
and it was because the King believed they had tricked 
him in his business that Perez fell, and, when in exile, 
had his life sought by some of his old master's assassins. 
Two Irishmen were authorized to kill him by Philip's 
Governor of the Netherlands, but failed, and were 
hanged in London. 



312 THE GKEAT TREASON PLOT 

Baron de Pinella tried to kill Perez at Paris, was de- 
tected, and executed. As he had been himself an active 
assassin, Perez could not well complain of these at- 
tempts; but they illustrate the theory and practice of 
ihe powerful Spanish monarch. Perez was one of 
those persons who labored to bring about the assassma- 
tionof William (the Silent) of Orange. Writing to 
Escovedo, who was Secretary to Don John of Austria, 
then in the Netherlands, Perez observes: 

« Let it never be absent from your mind that a good 
occasion must be found for finishing Orange, since, be- 
sides the service which will thus be rendered to our 
master, and to the States, it will be worth somethmg to 
ourselves"; to which highly moral injunction Esco- 
vedo replied: 

u You know that the finishing of Orange is very near 
mv heart." There is something almost comical in this 
correspondence, considering its circumstances: Perez 
ur-ing upon the man whom he was soon to assassinate, 
the duty of procuring the assassination of the Prince of 
Orange, to whose party in Europe he was destined ere 
long to join himself. 

Philip has been suspected of having procured the 
death of his half-brother, Don John of Austria, by 
poison; but in this instance he is entitled at least to the i 
Scotch verdict of Not proven. Pie did bring about the | 
assassination of his ablest enemy, the Prince of Orange 
though not until after failures so numerous as would | 
have^erved to discourage a man of less persistent mind. I 
Five unsuccessful attempts to kill the Prince were made, 
in two years; the sixth was successful, that of Balthazar; 



DtJRING THE WAR. 313 

Gerard, who shot the Dutch deliverer on the loth of 
July, 1584, in his house at Delft. 

Like Booth, Gerard used the pistol, a weapon that 
seems to have been invented for the promotion of mur- 
der. He made a determined effort to get off, and might 
have succeeded, had he not stumbled over a heap of 
rubbish. To all these attacks on Orange some of the 
most eminent Spanish statesmen aud soldiers of that 
time were parties, and Spain was then the premier 
nation. 

The Prince of Parma, one of the foremost men of a 
period in which there was an absolute glut of talent, 
spoke of Gerard's detestable crime as a " laudable and 
generous deed," and strongly recommended that the 
reward which had been offered for the Prince's murder 
should be conferred on his parents, a suggestion with 
which Philip gladly complied. 

Those parents were made noble, and were further 
rewarded by the grant of certain estates in Franche- 
Comte, the property of their son's victim. This was to 
reverse the old saying "Happy is the child whose 
father goeth to the Devil!"— for the happiness of the 
father was made by the child's taking the downward 
road. " At a later day," says Motley, " when the 
unfortunate eldest son of Orange returned from Spain, 
after twenty-seven years' absence, a changeling and a 
Spaniard, the restoration of those very estates was 
offered to him by Philip II., provided he would con- 
tinue to pay a fixed proportion of their rents to the 
family of his father's murderer. The education which 
Philip William had received, under the King's auspices, 



314 THE GREAT TREASON PLOT 

had, however, not entirely destroyed all his human 
feelings, and he rejected the proposal with scorn. The 
estates remained with the Gerard famil}', and the 
patents of nobility which they had received were used 
to justify their exemption from certain taxes, until the 
union of Franche-Comte with P" ranee, when a French 
governor tore the documents to pieces, and trampled 
them under foot." 

It w^ould be tedious to mention all the assassinations 
with which Philip II. was connected. He and his pro- 
consuls and ambassadors were concerned in many of the 
plots that were directed against the peace of countries 
whose power was dreaded by Spain, or against the 
lives of their sovereigns or other eminent personages. 

Elizabeth of England was to have been served after 
the same fashion as Orange. Alva sent assassins to 
take her off. Much of the assassination-work that was 
done in France proceeded from Spain. The Massacre 
of St. Bartholomew was a Spanish inspiration. In 
these days it v/ould be . called a coup a etat. 

All Philip's proceedings toward his enemies were 
characterized by the spirit of assassination. The mur- 
der of Montigny is a strong case in point; and the art- 
ful manner in which Egmont and Horn were inveigled 
into his toils shows that he was a master-hand at con- 
spiracy. Had there been two Philips in Europe, one 
would have assassinated the other, and it would have 
been dangerous to bet on the success of either. 

France had her grand assassinations in the sixteenth 
century; and a perfect crop they were, in which kings 
were conspirators or were conspired against, killed or 



DURING THEi WAR. 315 

were killed, according to the supposed requirements of 
state policy or the necessities of high-placed individuals. 
At earlier dates assassination was far from being un- 
known in France; and some remarkable cases occurred 
there in those awful times when the Burgundian and 
Armagnac parties existed. The Duke of Orleans was 
assassinated, and, later, the Duke of Burgundy. Louis 
XL, who had rebelled against his father, is believed to 
have murdered his brother, and also to have sought the 
death of Charles of Burgundy. 



316 THE GREAT TREASON PLOT 



CHAPTER XXV. 

In the sixteenth century French assassina- 
tions WERE OF the most STRIKING ORDER. 

The marriage of Catharine de' Medici with that 
French prince who became Henry H. is supposed to 
have been attended with the effect of debauching French 
morals, as the Itahans had a prodigiously bad reputa- 
tion as assassins, and particularly as poisoners. Cathar- 
ine was totally unscrupulous, having about as much of 
moral sense as goes to the making of a tigress; but it 
needed not that she should marry into the House 
of Valois to render assassination a Gallic crime. It 
would have existed in France all the same, had she 
never been born. 

It was a moral plague that ran over Europe, as the 
Black Death made the same tour a couple of hundred 
years earlier. Poltrot killed Francis, Duke of Guise, 
the greatest man of a great race. Henr}^, Duke of 
Guise, Francis' son, was concerned in a plot to miurder 
the Admiral Coligny, shortly before the St. Bartholo- 



DURING THE WAR. glT 

mew, and was one of the Admiral's murderers in the 
Massacre. Henry of Guise was assassinated by Henry 
HI., last of the Valois kings of France, who took upon 
himself to act in accordance with the principles laid 
down by Diego de Chaves, which James II. had acted 
on in the case of the Black Douglas, and on which 
Ferdinand II., Emperor of Germany, afterward acted 
toward Wallenstein, who was basely murdered. Henry 
III. was soon made to follow his victim, being assassin- 
ated by Jacques Clement, a Jacobin monk and a 
Leaguer. 

Henry IV. was killed by Francois Ravaillac, a Rom- 
ish fanatic, who was in bad odor with all respectable 
Catholics who knew him. Richelieu lived in a condi- 
tion not unlike that which Cromwell knew, being often 
conspired against. Louis XV. was attacked by Dam- 
iens, who v/as put to death by cruel tortures. 

In the Revolution there were several assassins, the 
most noted of whom was Charlotte Corday, praises of 
whom are so common as to weaken the force of that feel- 
ing which should ever be directed against murder. 
Granted that Marat was as bad as he is painted, no indi- 
vidual has the right to slay him. Bonaparte was in great 
danger from assassins; and it v/as not until he had the 
Due d' Enghien assassinated that he obtained a respite 
from their attacks, which were regarded with ill-dis- 
guised approbation, even by respectable persons who 
were his enemies, or those of France. A German 
youth endeavored to kill Napoleon in 1809, and was 
shot. In the *' Declaration " put forth by the Congress 
of Vienna against Napoleon, after his return from Elba, 



318 THE GREAT TREASON PLOT 

the Emperor was deliberately delivered over to assassins 
in the follov^^ing terms: 

"Les Puissances declarent en consequence, cue 
Napoleon Bonaparte s'est place hors des relations civiles 
et sociales et que, comme ennemi etperturbateur du repos 
du monde, il s'est livre a la vindicte publique." To the 
paper containing this rascally sentence stands affixed 
the name of Wellington, who, however, indignantly 
denied that he ever meant to authorize or to suggest 
the assassination of Napoleon. No doubt his denial 
was honestly made, but the legitimate construction of 
the words is favorable to the opposite view. 

A French officer named Cantallon was charged with 
having attempted to assassinate Wellington, and was 
tried and acquitted; and Napoleon bequeathed ten 
thousand francs to Cantallon, which bequest was paid 
after Napoleon III. became master of France, much to 
the indignation of some Englishmen. 

The Due de Berri, son of the Comte d' Artois, (later 
Charles X.,) and the hope of the Bourbons, was killed 
by Louvel, at the opera, in February 1820; and his son, 
the^ present Comte de Chambord, was born in the 
following Autumn. Louis Philippe, when King of 
the French, was so often attacked with fire-arms and 
infernal machines that one becomes dizzy in thinking 
of his escapes. 

Napoleon III. has been in great peril from assassins. 
Orsini's attempt to kill was a terrible piece of butchery, 
causing the death or mutilation of man}' persons, 
resembling in that respect the result of Fieschi's attempt 
to • murder Louis Philippe. Had Orsini's attempt 



DURING THE WAR. 819 

proved as successful as Booth's, it is probable that there 
never would have been a Secession War in this country. 
The Rebels counted much on European intervention, as 
they supposed that France and England would act 
together in their behalf; and had the Emperor been 
killed in 1858, the "cordial understanding" between 
the great nations of Western Europe would have come 
to an end, and perhaps they would have gone to war. 

The state of foreign affairs in 1S60 had much more 
to do with bringing on our civil war than appears on 
the surface of things. 

Scotland is a country in which assassins have figured 
largely, and her history is more disfigured by their acts 
than that of any other modern nation, due allowance 
being made for the smallness of her territory, and the 
limited number of her people. This peculiarity in 
vScotch history is principally owing to the circumstance, 
that, as a ruler, Scotland has been more aristocratically 
dominated than any other community; and aristocracies 
are more prolific of assassins than democracies or 
monarchies, as before said. 

Aristocrats, members of privileged classes, are less 
patient of restriction, and more prone to take the right- 
ing of what they call their wrongs into their own hands 
than are other men. Violence of all kinds was for 
centuries more common in Scotland than in any other 
European country that had made the same advances in 
civilization; and the troubles that overtook so many of 
her monarchs were the natural consequences of their 
jDosition. The House of Stuart has been called " the 
Fated Line;" and it deserved the name, because it stood 



820 THE GREAT TREASON PLOT 

nominally at the head of a nation that really was ruled 
by the fiercest aristocracy that ever plagued a people or 
perplexed monarchs. 

The independence of Scotland, her salvation from 
that English rule v^ith v/hich she was threatened by 
Edward I., whose success would have made her what 
Ireland became under English ascendency, was based on 
a deed which even some Scotch writers have not hesitat- 
ed to speak of as reprehensible, — the killing, namely of 
Comyn in a church at Dumfries, by Bruce and Kirk- 
patrick; and it seems as if the blood-stain then and there 
contracted, clung to the Stuarts, who were descended 
from Bruce by the female line. 

The Duke of Rothesay, son of Robert III., and heir- 
apparent, was murdered by his uncle, the Duke of 
Albany, whose purpose was to divert the crown to his 
own branch of the family. Rothesay's brother became 
James I., and he was assassinated by Sir Robert 
Grahame, the King's offence being that he wished to 
introduce something like regular government into Scot- 
land, having learned the value of order in England, 
where he had passed many years as a prisoner. Gra- 
hame was one of the most ferocious of the savages who 
then formed the Scotch aristocracy, and he had no idea 
of seeing radicalism made rampant in his country; and 
so he headed a conspiracy against the King and mur- 
dered him. 

James II. was himself an assassin, as he stabbed the 
Earl of Douglas, who had come to him under the assur- 
ance of safety, and who was cut to pieces by some of 
the royal retainers, after their master had set them an 



DURING THE WAK. 321 

example. The King's excuse was, that the Douglas 
had become too powerful to be proceeded against reg- 
ularly; and indeed, the question then before Scotland 
was, whether that country should be ruled by the 
House of Douglas or the House of Stuart, and we can- 
not wonder that a king, in the fifteenth century, should 
conclude rather to murder than to be murdered. James 
H. overthrew the Black Douglas and in his case assas- 
sination did prosper. James IH. was assassinated while 
flying from a field of battle on which he had been 
beaten by rebels. 

Mary Stuart, daughter of James V., is believed by 
many historical inquirers to have been a party to the 
assassination of her husband, (Henry Stuart, Lord 
Darnley, who was her relative,) the question whether 
she did thus act forming the turning point in that fam- 
ous Marian Controversy which has raged for three 
hundred years, and which seems to be no nearer a decis- 
ion now than it was before Loch Leven and Fother- 
ingay, — Mr. Froude, the last of the great champions in 
the fight, having pronounced, with all his usual direct- 
ness, adversely to the Rose of Scotland. Whether. 
Mary was an assassin or not it is beyond all doubt that 
her husband was one of the assassins of the servant 
Rizzio, who was murdered in her very presence. 

Mary's son, James VL, stands in the strangest rela- 
tion to an extraordinary assassination of an}' man in his- 
tory. The Gowrie Conspiracy is yet a riddle. Accord- 
ing to one class of historical critics, the Earl of Gowrie 
and his brother, Alexander Ruthven, were bent upon 
assassinating the King ; while another class are quite as 



822 THE GREAT TREASON PLOT 

positive that the King was bent upon assassinating the 
Ruthvens, and that he accomplished his purpose. 

We confess that we are strongly inclined to go with 
those who say that the Ruthvens were victims, and not 
baffled assassins; and we have always admired the reply 
of the clergyman to whom the King condescended to 
tell his story, in the hope of convincing him of its truth. 
"Doubtless," said that skeptical, but pious personage, "I 
must believe it, since your Majesty says you saw it; but 
I would not have believed it, had I seen it with my own 
eyes." Was ever a king told more cleverly that he 
was a liar? 

The Earl of Murray, Mary Stuart's bastard brother, 
and the first of many regents who ruled Scotland dur- 
ing her son's minority, was the victim of the most 
pardonable act of assassination that we know of, — if 
such a crime be ever pardonable. Hamilton of Both- 
wellhaugh was one of those Scotchmen who joined 
Mary vStuart after her escape from Loch Leven, and 
was condemned to death after her failure, but had his 
life spared, while his estate was confiscated. He might 
have borne this loss of property, but he became enraged 
when he heard that his wife had been so treated, 
when ejected from what had been her own property 
before her marriage, as to go mad and die. Tne per- 
son who misused her had received the estate from the 
Earl of Murray; and upon the latter Hamilton resolved 
totake vengeance. He carried out his plans, which 
were very cleverly formed, with great skill and cool- 
ness, and consequently was successful, taking off his 
great enemy, and getting off himself. He shot Murray 



DURING THE WAR. 325 

as he was passing- through the town of Linhthgow, 
stationing himself in a house that belonged to the Arch- 
bishop of St. Andrews, in and around which everything 
had been prepared for the killing of one man and the 
escape of another. 

It is beyond all doubt that the Archbishop was a 
party to the crime, or Bothwellhaugh could not have 
had the facilities which were his for obtaining revenge 
and striking a great blow for the Queen's party. The 
princely House of Hamilton generally approved of the 
deed. Let not those, however, who see in the Arch- 
bishop's conduct the natural effect of Catholicism, be in 
too great hurry to attribute his conduct to his religious 
belief; for there were Protestant assassins in Scotland 
in those days, and later. Only a few years before, a 
very eminent Catholic, Cardinal Beaton, who was 
Archbishop of St. Andrews, was murdered by Norman 
Lesley; and John Knox associated himself with Lesley, 
and those by whom he was aided, to hold the castle of 
St. Andrews against the Government's forces. The 
murderers of Rizzio were not Catholics, and their victims 
belonged to the old church. Some of Darnley's mur- 
derers were Protestants. 

In the next century some remarkable cases of Scotch 
assassination took place. Montrose stands charged with 
having attempted to take the lives of Argyle and Hamil- 
ton; but we hesitate to believe the story, so great is our 
admiration of that wonderful man. After the Restora- 
tion (1660,) the ultra Protestants, perverting various 
passages of Scripture, assumed to execute judgment on 
those whom they held to be enemies of God and the 



S24 THE GREAT TREASON PLOT 

true Kirk. The man for whom they felt most hatred 
was James Sharpe, Archbishop of St. Andrews, — a title 
that seems to have had j^eculiar attractions for assassins. 
Sharpe was accused, not untruthfully, of having sold his 
cause to Government; and he became a marked man 
with those whom he had betrayed. A preacher named 
Mitchell fired a pistol into Sharpe's carriage, and 
wounded the Bishop of the Orkneys so severely that 
the prehite ultim itely died of his injury. 

Years later Mitchell was about to make a second 
attempt on tlie Archbishop, when he was arrested, tried, 
imprisoned for some time, condemned, and executed, at 
the Archbishop's earnest request. The next year 
Sharpe was slain by a number of Protestants, who were 
looking for a minor persecutor, and who thought that 
Heaven had specially delivered the Archbishop into 
their hands when they encountererl his carriage, from 
which they made him descend, and murdered him in 
presence of his daughter, using swords and pistols. 

Among the many stories told of Claverhonse [then 
Viscount (^f Dundee] is one to the effect that he was 
shot on the battle-iield of Kiliiecrankie by one of his 
servants, who used a silver button from his livery- coat, 
the great Grahame being impervious to lead. *About 

*Mr. De Quincey's immortal Connoisseur, who delivered the Williams Lec- 
ture on Murder, speakin^f of the supposed assassination of Gustavus Adolphus, 
at the Battle of Lutzen, savs: " The King of Sweden's assassination, by-the- 
bv, is doubted by many writers,— Karte amongst others; but they are wrong. 
He was murdered; and I consider his murder unique in its excellence; for he 
was murdered at noonday, and on the field of battle,— a feature of original con- 
ception, which occurs in no other work of art that I remember." His memory 
was bad. He must have heard the story that Desaix was murdered on the field 
of Marengo, after coming up to .save Bonaparte from destruction; and he must 
also have heard the story that Dundee was murdered at Killiecrankie. Mr. 
Hawthorne mentions that he saw, in an old volume of Colonial newspapers, 
*'a report that General Wolfe was slain, not by the enemy, but by a shot from 



DURING THE WAR. 325 

the same time, Sir George Lockhart, President of the 
Court of Session, and head of the Scotch tribunals, 
was assassinated by Chiesly of Dairy, who was angry 
because the President had assigned to Mrs. Chiesly, 
with whom her husband had quarreled, a larger alimony 
than that husband thought she should have. The busi- 
ness of divorcing, and discriminating as to the amount of 
ladies' allowances, is a safer one in these times, and for- 
tunate for the judges that it is, considering how much 
of such business they have to perform. If every hun- 
dred divorce cases produced one assassination, lawyers 
would be rapidly promoted — and shot. 

Eng-land has contributed a larore number of assassina- 
tions to the pages of that Newgate serial which is knovv^n 
by the grave name of history. One of her kings, 
Edward II., is known to have been murdered after his 
deposition; and it is supposed that he perished by a 
peculiarly horrible form of death. William Rufus is 
believed to have been assassinated in the New Forest, 
though the popular notion'is, that he was accidentally 
killed by an arrow from the bow of Walter Tirrel, 
which must have been a long bow. Richard II. was 
probably killed in prison, after deposition. Plenry VI. 
is believed to have been killed in 1471, he being then a 
prisoner in the hands of the triumphant Yorkists, — but 
there is no proof that he was kill'.-d. Edward V., a 
boy-monarch, is one of the princes whom Richard III.'s 

his own soldiers." All these reports are just as well founded as that which 
represents Gustavus Adolphus as having- been assassinated. Harte's doubts 
are, as the reader can see by referrincj to his work, well sustained, and leave 
the impression that the King: was killed in a fair iifjht. We have heard a very 
ingenious argument in support of the proposition that Stonewall Jackson was 
assassinated by some of his own men,— and there is some mystery about the 
cause or occasion of his death. 



:}2(i THE GREAT TREASON PLOT 

enemies said lie had smothered in the Tower, — a story 
to be maintained only by smothering all evidence. 

Manv English sovereigns were attacked by assassins, 
but escaped. Edward 1. was stabbed by a Mussulman, 
when he was crusading in. the East, — and we had 
almost said that he was riglitly served; for what busi- 
ness had he in that remote part of the world? Henry 
V. was to have been assassinated, according to the 
statement of himself and friends; but he had the satis- 
facti,on of killing the conspirators judicially. 

Elizabeth, as became her superiority to most sover- 
eigns, was a favorite with persons with a taste for assas- 
sination strongly developed. She was under the Papal 
ban, and was an object of the indelicate attentions of 
that prince of assassins, Philip II.; and his underlings, 
who were all great people, made her life so uncertain 
that there never lived the actuary who was capable of 
estimating the probabilities of its duration. That she 
escaped is as wonderful as anything in her history, for 
she did not appear to be very heedful of her personal 
safety; yet she could punish detected ruffians sharply 
enough. 

James I. was once in no slight danger. No conspiracy 
ever came so near making a great noise in the world, 
of a kind very different from that which it did make, as 
the Gunpowder Plot; and the silence which marked its 
course is quite as astonishing as the excitement that fol- 
lowed its disclosure. That so many persons should 
have kept so deadly a secret so long, and so faithfully, 
is as great a mystery as ever was invented by a writer 
of the sensation school; and when Catholics declare that 



DURING THE WAR. 827 

there never was a plot, except that which was formed 
against their religion, by artful men, for the worst pur- 
poses, they do not talk so unreasonably as at the first 
blush it should seem. This plot was a gentlemanly 
transaction. There was hardly a person who had part 
in it who was not a gentleman by birth or education, or 
both. Catesby, Percy, Rookwood, Digby, the Win- 
ters, Grant, Tresham, Keyes, and the Littletons were 
all members of good families, and some of them of 
very high families, — as Percy, Digby, Rookwood, and 
Catesby. Some of them had been Protestants, — as 
Catesby and Percy; and Digby had been brought 
up in a Protestant house. Fawkes was of respect- 
able parentage and of good education. Father Gar- 
net, on his trial was spoken of by Sir Edward Coke 
as having " many excellent gifts and endowments of 
nature; by birth a gentleman, by education a scholar, 
by art learned, and a good linguist." He was brought 
up a Protestant. That Catholics of such stand- 
ing, and with such training as should have taught them 
better, should have engaged in so wicked a conspiracy, 
was one of the chief reasons why adherents of the 
ancient religion were treated so cruelly in England for 
more than two centuries. 

Titus Gates' invention, the Popish Plot, never would 
have found believers, had not men remembered the 
Gunpowder Plot. In Cromwell's time, and during the 
civil war that preceded it, assassination plots were com- 
mon, and some succeeded. The Cavalitrs had very 
loose notions on the subject. They killed an English 
envoy in Holland and another in Spain. Cromwell 



328 THE GREAT TREASON PLOT 

was almost as much a target as Louis Philippe became 
after he was converted, for his sins, into a Citizen 
Kin^2^. It is even asserted that he feared assassination, 
and he was not in the habit of fearing many things. 
The court of the exiled Stuarts teemed with assassins; 
and projects for murdering the Protector were there 
formed, as well as in England. Nothing but the good 
intelligence which Cromwell purchased saved his life. 

Charles II., in his turn, became the object of assas- 
sins' attentions. Some of those who meant to kill him 
w^ere superior men, — as Richard Rumbold, who was 
able, true, brave, honest, and pious. True, Rumbold in 
dying expressed his abhorrence of assassination, and de- 
nied that he ever had countenanced it; but the distinc- 
tion which he made, and on which his dying expressions 
were founded, can deceive no one, and we find it 
difhcult to believe that they deceived Rumbold himself. 
To have killed the King and the Duke of York after 
the manner spoken of by the Rye-House plotters would 
have been to assassinate them, and no amount of sophis- 
try could have given to the conspiracy any other char- 
acter than that of an assassination plot. 

William III. lived in almost as great danger of dying 
by the hand of an assassin, as his immortal ancestor 
whom Gerard shot. It shows how common was assas- 
sination in those times, and how loose was public moral- 
ity, that Louis XIV. was a party to at least two of the 
plots that were formed for taking William's life, — that 
of Grandval and that of Barclay, the latter known in 
English histor}' as the Assassination Plot far excel- 
lence^ and which would have succeeded, had two or 



DURING THE WAR. 829 

three of the parties to it been left out. James II., 
William's father-in-law, was also concerned in both 
these plots; and his illegitimate son, the Duke of Ber- 
wick, a man of the highest personal integrity, was 
aware what Barclay was about. Since William's time, 
English sovereigns have had but little trouble from 
assassins, and that little has proceeded from insane 
creatures. George III. was struck at by a crazy 
woman, one Peg Nicholson, and fired at in a theatre, 
by a crazy man named Hadfield. 

We can recollect three persons firing at Queen Vic- 
toria, none of whom were executed, though they all 
richly deserved hanging. Englishmen of note have 
been assassinated from time to time. Becket's death 
was an act of assassination. Two Dukes of Gloucester, 
of the blood royal, were assassinated in prison, — one in 
the reign of Richard II., and the other in that of Henry 
VI. Not a few eminent persons in England were 
"done to death" by the abuse of judicial proceedings, 
which were, in fact, acts of assassination. Most of 
Henry VIII. 's great victims perished by means fouler 
than any of those to which Richard HI. is accused of 
having had resort; and the manner in which his father, 
Henry VII., murdered the Earl of Warwick, last of 
the male Plantagenets, and only because he was a 
Plantagenet, was a deed worthy of a devil. 

Elizabeth, unless she is much libelled, would have 
avoided the execution of Mary Stuart by resort to assas- 
sination, only that her instruments were found scrupu- 
lous. The first Duke of Buckingham of the Villiers 
family was assassinated by John Felton, in Charles I's 



330 THE GREAT TREASON PLOT 

reign. Harley, afterward Earl of Oxford, was stabbed 
by a Frenchman, named Guiscard, Harley being then 
Chancellor of the Exchequer, in Anne's reign. Mr. 
Perceval, First Lord of the Treasur}^, was shot by a 
lunatic named John Bellingham, in 1S12, the scene be- 
ing the lobby of the House of Commons. 

In 1819 the Cato-Street Conspiracy was formed by 
Arthur Thistlewood and others. It was meant to kill 
the British Ministers, and the mode in which it was fin- 
all}' resolved to proceed was to attack them when they 
should be assembled at a cabinet dinner, to be given by 
the Earl of Harrowby, Lord President of the Council. 
Government knew all about the conspiracy, and allowed 
it to ripen, and then " bagged " the conspirators. This 
was in February, 1820; and on the first of May five of 
the assassins were hanged and five others transported. 

When Sir Robert Peel was last Prime Minister, a 
fellow named M'Naughten sought his life, and killed 
his private secretary, Mr. Drummond. Sir Robert was 
so indiscreet as to charge Mr. Cobden with inciting 
persons to take his life! 

Russia has lost several of her sovereigns through 
assassination, accompanied or preceded by deposition 
Ivan VI. was assassinated in prison, almost a quarter of 
a century after the crown had been taken from him. 
Peter III. survived his downfall but a week, when he 
was poisoned, beaten, and strangled. The Czar Paul 
was so unreasonable as to resist those who were depos- 
ing him, and they were under the disagreeable necessity 
of squeezing his throat so long and so tightly, that 
breathing became difficult, and at last stopped altogether. 



DURING THE WAR. 331 

The murderers of both Peter and Paul became great 
personages, held high offices, did important deeds, and 
were receiv^ed in the very best societ}', as well abroad as 
at home. Macauly, in his article on Madame D' Arb- 
lay, (Fanny Burney,) mentions the number, the variety, 
and the greatness of the company with her father, Dr. 
Burney, assembled frequentlv at his house. " On one 
evening, of which we happen to have a full account," 
he says, "there was present Lord Muigrave, Lord 
Bruce, Lord and Lady Edgecumbe, Lord Barrington 
from the War office, Lord Sandwich from the Admir- 
alty, Lord Ashburnham, with his gold key dangling 
from his pocket, and the French Ambassador, M. de 
Guignes renowned for his fine person and for his suc- 
cess in gallantry. But the great show of the night was 
the Russian Ambassador, Count Orloff, whose gigantic 
figure was all in a blaze of jewels, and in whose 
demeanor the untamed ferocity of the Scythian might 
be discerned through a thin varnish of French polite- 
ness. As he stalked about the small parlor, brushing 
the ceiling with his toupee, the girls whispered to each 
other, with mingled admiration and horror, that he was 
the favored lover of his august mistress [Catharine IL]; 
that he had borne the chief part in the revolution to 
which she owed her throne; and that his huge hands, 
now glittering with diamond rings, had given the last 
squeeze to the windpipe of her unfortunate husband." 
He must have been a nice man for a small party, and 
peculiarly edifying spectacle for young ladies. And 
then how lit to be Ambassador at a court the first 
woman of which was good Queen Charlotte. 



332 THE GREAT TREASON PLOT 

Many words have been wasted on the question, 
whether Catharine II. and Alexander I. consented to 
the murder, the one of her husband and the other of his 
father; but the question is absurdly framed. They con- 
sented to the act of deposition in each case, and that 
was the same as to sign the death-warrant. The old 
saying, that short is the passage of a dethroned monarch 
from a prison to a grave, applied with peculiar force to 
Russia: Catharine II. well knew there was no hope 
for her husband; and Alexander I. could not have been 
deceived on such a point. While she was at the height 
of her power, Catharine herself was in danger of being 
assassinated. Some of the nobles suggested to her son, 
the Grand Duke Paul, that she should be deposed and 
murdered, and offered to do the job, quite as a matter 
of course, and with no more shame than so many 
English Parliament-men might have felt for proposing 
to vote a minister out of office. It was their mode of 
effecting a change of ministry, and they regarded the 
proposition as showing that they were members of the 
constitutional opposition. As Talleyrand told Bona- 
parte; when news of Paul's murder reached Paris, "'Tis 
a way they have there!" Paul rejected the offer to rid 
him of his mother with horror. His own son was 
not so moral in after days. Alexander was a haunted 
man, and remorse made him the crazy wreck that he 
was in his last years, and shortened his life. He was 
threatened with assassination by the Russian constitu- 
tional opposition, when it was thought that he was giv- 
ing up too much to Napoleon I.; and the eventful war 
of 1 812 was the result of his fears of that opposition. 




JUDGE BUCKNER S. MORRIS, 

Grand Seignior of the lUini Temple "Sons of Liberty,' 

Chicago, Ills, 



834 THE GREAT TREASON PLOT 

When he was at Vienna, attending the memorable 
Congress, he frankly said that he durst not go back to 
Ilussia without having added all of Poland that he 
claimed to his dominions, — that it was as much as his 
life was worth to comply with the demands of Austria, 
France and England with regard to the Poles. This 
was the real reason why the Polish question was so 
clumsily disposed of, and left to make trouble for the 
future. Alexander preferred quarelling with his allies, 
rather than with his nobles, exactly as he had done 
when Napoleon I. was his foreign antagonist. There 
have been persons enough to argue that Alexander I. 
was assassinated, after all, and also that Nicholas was 
disposed of in the same constitutional way; but we can 
see no evidence on which to found any such argument. 

When in the days of the Polish War, (1S31) the 
Grand Duke of Constantine and Marshal Diebitsch 
died rather suddenly, it was generally believed that 
they had been assassinated by order of Nicholas, but 
without any foundation for the belief. 

One of the last of the Swedish kings of the line of 
Vasa, Gustavus III., was assassinated in 1793, being 
shot by Count Auckarstroem, at a masked ball, March 
16. This murder was the result of an aristocratical 
conspiracy, the King having done much to lessen the 
power of the nobilit}^ He was engaged at the time he 
was shot in getting up a crusade against revolutionary 
France, of which he purposed being the head. He 
survived his wound thirteen days. 

An attempt to assassinate Joseph I., King of Portu- 
gal, was made in i758,when the celebrated Marquise of 



DURING THE WAR. 395 

Pombal was the real ruler of that country. Many exe- 
cutions took place, including several of the highest 
nobles. The Jesuits, who were then very unpopular, 
and against whom most European governments were 
directing their power, were charged with this crime, 
and some of them were put to death, and the rest ban- 
ished from Portugal. 

In the year 1831, Count Capo d' Istria, then Presi- 
dent of Greece, was assassinated at Nauplia, by the 
brothers Mauromichalls. He was supposed to be a 
mere tool of Russia, in whose service much of his life 
had passed. He was by birth a Greek of the Ionian Is- 
lands; and after they had become a portion of Napoleon 
I.'s empire, he took office in Russia, rising very high. 
Employed to look after Russia's interests in Greece, he 
was ultimately chosen President of the latter country in 
1S27. Popular at first, he soon became odious, and 
was nothing but a Russian agent. His death probably 
cut short plans which, had they succeeded, would have 
had much effect on the course of European events. In 
the eld land, where it was considered a sacred duty to 
kill tvrants, he was suddenly slain as he was entering a 
church. His death caused little regret, though the 
deed of the Mauromichalis was warmly condemned, 
many persons being ready to profit from crimes, the 
perpetration of which they are swift to condemn, and 
as ready to execute the perpetrators. 




COL. B. J. SWEET, 
Commander of Camp Douglas, Chicago, Ills. 



DURING THE WAR. MT 



CHAPTER XXVI. 
History of Camp Douglas — The Period op 
IMMINENT Peril to the Camp and City — Dif- 
ficulties IN PROSECUTING THE INVESTIGATION 

Thrilling episode. 

The following sketch of Camp Douglas by Eleanor 
Atkinson, in the " Times-Herald " of Chicago is in the 
main correct, but there are certain additional details 
essential to a complete record, which we will make: 

"The unveiling on Memorial Day, 1895, of a monu- 
ment to the 6,000 Confederate soldiers who sleep in 
Oakwoods Cemetery com.es in the nature of a surprise 
to nine-tenths of the citizens of Chicago who have been 
born in or have come to the "garden city" since the war. 
To them the rebellion is a remote event that happened 
in the south, and there the dead lie on historic fields. 
In the school histories, which is as far as most of us go 
in the story of our own country, the crack of the rifle 
echoes back, at the farthest point north, from the knobs 
of the Ohio River, when Morgan swept his cavalry 
across the hills and thi'ough the ravines of southern 
Indiana. 



338 THE GREAT TREASON PLOT 

But there are men who walk on the streets of Chi- 
cago to-day who can remember that in 1864, war 
smouldered beneath the pavements of the city and could 
be fanned into flames with a word from the hundreds 
of Confederate officers, who had escaped from prison and 
fled to the borders of Canada. Almost every month, 
Confederate prisoners on their way to Camp Douglas 
marched through the streets, a menacing force, often 
with an insuflicient guard, if a concerted attack should 
be made from within and without. The basements in 
the heart of the town concealed thousands of stands of 
arms, the Sons of Liberty and Knights of the Golden 
Circle honeycombed society, and gave secret aid and 
comfort to the Confederates. Sackings, burnings, riots, 
massacres and all the horrors of civil war in our midst 
waited only for a signal. 

The signal was never given. Not a shot was fired, 
not a drop of blood was spilled to be forgiven in this 
day of reconciliation of differences. Six thousand Con- 
federate soldiers died, but it was froin diseases caused 
by a change of climate and water, from wounds received 
in battle, from exhaustion and homesickness — nostalgia 
is a real disease. Daily the military wagons carried 
gray uniformed figures out to the "old countrv grave- 
yard by the lake," over the mud roads, and left the loyal 
sons of the south to their eternal sleep under the northern 
snows. Such are the sad fortunes of war. But there 
is nothing sadder to relate of those who died in Chi- 
cago. It is to the lasting honor of this city that the 
first consignment of prisoners — after the battle of Fort 
Donaldson in '62 — had scarcely arrived before a relief 



DURING THE WAR. 339 

committee of citizens began to look after their comfort. 
They were properly clothed for the climate, they were 
tended in sickness; the last offices of the dead were per- 
formed in a spirit of brotherhood. Bloodshed was 
averted by the Union soldiers and loyal democrats. All 
this makes the unveiling of a monument to the Con- 
federate dead peculiarly fitting in Chicago, where there 
were honest differences, indeed, but where rancor and 
bitterness never got the upper hand of humanity and 
fraternity. 



Where was Camp Douglas? Less than a generation 
has elapsed since the barracks were removed, the fence 
and parapet torn down, the parade ground abandoned, 
the last prisoner exchanged and the guard mustered out, 
yet there are few men to-day who could give its bound- 
aries, so completely has the tide of population obliter- 
ated every land-mark. 

It lay directly west of Douglas Square and monu- 
ment at Thirty-third street, its eastern limit defined by 
Cottage Grove avenue, and its southern line identical 
with the northern boundary of the old Chicago Uni- 
versity ground. It embraced all the territory west, to 
Forest avenue, and north to Thirty-first street. But it 
did not keep inside these limits, though the high board 
fence extended no farther. At times there were camps 
and drill grounds to State street, and south to the village 
of Hyde Park. When the camp was located north of 
the university in iS6i by A. C. Fuller, adjutant general 
of Illinois, the ground it occupied and all about it was 
open prairie. The icy winds had a clear sweep froin 



840 THE GRBA.T TREASON PLOT 

the lake, unimpeded by buildings, and Cottage Grove 
avenue was the only clearly defined street. The tower 
and turrets of the stone cottage sprang from the virgin 
soil to the south, and could have commanded both prison 
and garrison had an armed force of fifty men been 
posted at the north windows. 

The only other house near was the homestead of 
Henry Graves, that cut a block with 300 feet of front- 
age out of the eastern side. A plank fence twelve feet 
high and a Federal sentinel on the parapet below, was all 
that separated the home of this quiet citizen from 22,000 
prisoners of war at the time of the great northwestern 
conspiracy in 1864. Yet he lived there in peace during 
the whole period of the war, and his children played 
under the muzzles of the garrison guns. He lived there 
up to a few years ago on Graves place, a street a half 
block long that runs from Cottage Grove avenue to 
Thirty-third street. He has seen the " billowy bays of 
grass " plowed up and paved with cobble stones, cedar 
block and asphalt. He has seen Thirty-second street 
cut through from east to west, and Rhodes, Vernon, 
South Park and Calumet avenues, successively intersect 
the camp ground. He has seen the abandonment and 
destruction of the stately college, so long a landmark to 
voyagers by sea and land, the raising of Douglas monu- 
ment and the building of busy streets. The only relic 
that remains of the troubled times of the war is under- 
ground — the Thirty-third street sewer that was con- 
structed by Confederate soldiers to drain the camp, and 
where several of them nearly lost their lives by the cav- 
ing in of the banks. 



DXJRINGiTHE WAR. 841 

But in spite of all the changes, he could, a few years 
ago, show you where the main gate was located on 
Cottage Grove avenue, where were the parade grounds, 
the hospital, the Union and Confederate barracks, the 
ovens and commissary departments, and the tunnel, 
whence many prisoners attempted to escape, now filled 
up and obliterated, and the dead line beyond which any 
man ventured at his peril. 



Early in the Summer of iS6i, Colonel Joseph H. 
Tucker was sent by Governor Yates to take command 
of the northern district of Illinois. Camp Douglas was 
at first intended to be used as a training ground and 
rendezvous for recruits, from all the northwest, but Cap- 
tain Christopher, United States recruiting officer in 
Chicago, assumed the cost of constructing barracks and 
fence, and the place was turned over to the general 
government. Camp Douglas immediately became a 
point of national interest, and later a local menace. 

Volunteers came by the hundreds, and trained and 
equipped regiments marched out of it to the front to fill 
the bre'aches made by Confederate guns, some never to 
come back. There was busy preparation on the parade 
ground, maneuvers and drill; much hurrahing and 
beating of drums and crowds of friends proud of the 
boys in blue, and sad farewells. With the beginning of 
1862, the war cloud had spread and darkened all the 
country with forebodings. The sanitary commission 
had been formed, and every regiment that went to the 
front was accompanied by devoted nurses and wagons 
oaded with hospital stores. War assumed a grim as- 



342 THE GREAT TREASON PLOT 

pect. John Brown's soul had taken up its march, with 
every blue coat that left the north. 

Camp Douglas felt the change. The northern 
prisons were filling up, and after every Union victory a 
consignment of prisoners was expected. It was the 
largest camp of the government, except that at Fortress 
Monroe, but as yet was fitted up only for the accommo- 
dation of the recruits and for the Summer. There were 
barracks for the garrison guard, a small hospital and a 
supply of tents. So it was with consternation that Col- 
onel Tucker was ordered to prepare for the reception 
of 9,000 prisoners, after the victory at Fort Donelson, 
in February of 1862. There was less than a week to 
do it in before the first squad arrived by way of St. 
Louis and the Alton Road. Another regiment came 
in on the Illinois Central. 

The weather was bitterly cold. The winds swept 
across from the lake, and snow and ice lay on the ground. 
The camp was badly drained, and there were no hos- 
pital accommodations to speak of. The hearts of the 
citizens of Chicago ached with pity and sorrow, when the 
prisoners arrived. Thousands lined the way to" see the 
secessionists, and the people from the two sections, who 
had met only on the battle field before, regarded each 
other curiously. 

" Why, these 'rebels' are men like us," was the aston- 
ished ejaculation of many citizens. We of to-day can- 
not understand the hatred and fear of each other engen- 
dered by that sad strife. The northerners had expected 
to find in slave owners something less than human, and 
they saw only docile and suffering men. The southerners 



DURING THE WAR. 343 

met pitying looks and generous relief instead of bitter 
revilings. The march of four miles through sleet and 
snow took four hours to finish, and many a brandy flask 
passed the line to the suffering men without rebuke 
from the guard. Hot soup and coffee were ready at 
the camp for the half-famished men. But, alas, there 
were only ice-stiffened tents and hastily constructed 
sheds for their reception. 

A more miserable looking set of men it would be 
difficult to imagine. Hungry, sick from exposure, 
sunken-eyed, many weakened by slight wounds that m 
a hospital would have been trivial, unsuitably clad for 
the climate, their misery would have touched harder 
hearts than those in Chicago, where suffering had never 
yet made its appeal in vain. Their clothes were non- 
descript, chiefly of half cotton butternut, no two suits 
alike. Their shoes were broken, and let in the icy 
water at every step of the march; their knapsacks were 
often mere bundles, and their canteens any sort of flask 
or pail. The poverty of the south was manifest. 
These men had never been properly equipped for a 
campaign, and imprisonment in a northern camp was 
equivalent to a death sentence, to a large proportion of 
them. It was felt at once that these men had fought, 
from the beginning, for a lost cause, and their devotion 
to it had an infinite pathos for the hardier men of the 
north. Yet these same men, when exchanged, did 
some desperate fighting. 

Those of the spectators who gained an entrance to 
Camp Douglas had an opportunity to judge of what 
stuff the prisoners were made. Many were standing in 



344 THE GREAT TREASON PLOT 

the snow shivering, their eyes burning with the fever 
of ague or pneumonia, many ah-eady felt the first 
twinges of rheumatism, or had taken a drink of the 
water that was to produce dysentery. Spared by the 
bullet, they were to succumb to the cold and strange 
water. But there was no craven whining. A news- 
paper man who circulated among them and questioned 
them, was treated with unfailing courtesy and good 
humor. 

"If you were released would you fight again?" he 
asked of a tall Mississippian. 

"When I get out of this scrape, I'll show you," the 
southerner replied. Alas, he never got out of that 
scrape. He lies under the grass at Oakwoods. 

There were rough and ready Texans among the 
prisoners, languid Louisianians, fiery Kentuckians and 
Tennessee mountaineers. Their speech was a soft drawl 
with elisions like that of the contrabands who accom- 
panied many of the officers, and could rarely be per- 
suaded to leave their masters, for the doubtful advantage 
of freedom in this unfriendly climate. These dark- 
skinned children of slavery were prone to be merry 
over their misfortunes. 

" Golly, Massa Richards," said one whose big white 
teeth were chattering, " who'd ever thunk we'd come 
to a summah resort in the winter." The master took a 
plaid from about his own shoulders and put it about the 
boy. It seemed a natural act to both, and no w^ord 
passed between them any more than between a father 
and child. Such incidents caused the northerners to 
marvel. A week later, when the ofBcer* were sent on 




CHAS. WALSH, 
Brigadier General of ConspiratorB. Chicago, 111b. 



346 THE GREAT TREASON PLOT 

to Columbus, Ohio, these slaves "toted" their masters' 
baggage through the streets without interference from 
an abolitionist population, so thoroughly were the pre- 
judices of the prisoners respected. 



Scarcely were the gates of Camp Douglas shut and 
sentinels posted on the parapet for the night, before a 
relief committee was being organized under the leader- 
ship of Thomas B. Bryan, and early next day a wagon 
load of medicines, blankets and flannels were sent to the 
camp and physicians and nurses volunteered their ser- 
vices. From that time on, relief work was active and 
unceasing up to the close of the war. The Chicago 
branch of the sanitary commission had been organized 
the Autumn before, with such men as Dr. Ralph N. 
Isham and E. W. Blatchford as leading spirits. A 
committee was immediately appointed to look after the 
strangers at Camp Dougkis. A Ladies' Aid Society 
was formed for the same purpose among the members 
of Grace Episcopal Church, and John V. Farwell, as 
president of the northwestern branch of the Christian 
Commission, did effectual spiritual work. Prayers 
were invoked and messages sent to southern homes 
from the beds of the dying. Within a week much had 
been done for the physical comfort of the prisoners. 

Barracks were going up rapidly, the hospital was 
enlarged and the prisoners were treated as were the 
Union soldiers. Full rations were given them and the 
sick had skilled attention. One of the leading news- 
papers of the city constantly urged upon the people to 
remember: "These men will be our countrymen 



DURING THE WAR. 347 

again, and a few decades will efface the memory of the 
conflict." 

Thomas B. Bryan, in speaking of the committee he 
organized to care for the first prisoners received at 
Camp Douglas after the battle of Fort Donelson, said: 
"A great many prisoners taken at Fort Donelson, per- 
haps S,ooo or 9,000, arrived in February, 1862. Many 
of them were ill or suffering from wounds. The fare 
at the camp was, of course, not intended for invalids, 
and many citizens felt a great deal of sympathy for the 
sick prisoners who might be suffering for the want of 
delicacies which a prison could not be expected to fur- 
nish. I had a special interest in the men, for, although 
a strong Unionist, I was a Southerner by birth. A 
number of citizens came together to consider plans for 
the relief of the prisoners, and some volunteered to aid 
me. Later events have crowded their names from my 
memory, but Dr. Boone and the late Judge Higgins 
may have been among them. The committee was 
hardly an organized affair, but volunteers gave of their 
time as they could, and it fell to my lot, perhaps, to do 
more than others. I remember quite well that there 
was considerable fault found with some of us because 
we were absent so much from our offices. 

" The people of Chicago had a kindly feeling for the 
prisoners, and the supplies which we furnished were the 
voluntary gifts of -the citizens. I will have to admit 
that our gifts were not all delicacies for the sick, for 
tobacco was an important item among them, and it 
proved to be one of the most welcome, too. The com- 
mittee was made up mostly of men of Southern birth, 



348 THE GREAT TREASON PLOT 

but this relief for the prisoners was unexpected by them, 
and proved a most agreeable surprise. Most of the 
incidents of the work I have forgotten, but there 
remains with me a very lasting impression of the intense 
gratitude of the Confederates. Many of them took 
especial pains in thanking the committee to explain that 
they appreciated the motive more highly than the 
dainties and the tobacco. 

" The erection and dedication of the monument to the 
Confederate dead in Oakwoods Cemetery will have a 
tendency to obliterate sectional feeling, and in that light 
is all right. Americans are never to be separated again, 
but are to live henceforth as brothers, and everything 
that will conserve fraternal feelings is to be encouraged." 

Dr. Ralph N. Isham, Sr., who had charge of the fed- 
eral hospital in Chicago, recalls the arrival of the Fort 
Donelson prisoners at Camp Douglas by a remarkable 
epidemic which broke out among them. He was called 
to camp one day, and it was found that many hundreds 
of the Confederates were suffering from measles. Under 
ordinary circumstances it is considered something of a 
joke for an adult to be taken down with that infantile 
disease, but it was a serious affair at the war prison. 
It was in winter, the physical condition of the men had 
been impaired by the hardships of war, and a great 
many of the patients died of the measles. 

The spirit of the citizens was commendable. Every- 
one responded to calls for help. One of the most sig- 
nificant incidents of the time, was that of a Scotch 
woman, a Mrs. Robb, who had three daughters serving 
as nurses at the front. All three died from the hard- 



DURINQ THE WAR. 349 

ships, and the mother daily collected a basket of medi- 
cines for the sick southerners at Camp Douglas. 

The prisoners went to work with a will to make 
their quarters habitable. They dug wells and rigged 
up windlasses; they began on the ditches to drain the 
grounds, and constructed the sewer on Thirty-third 
street. When a wagon load of soap was received for 
them there began such a scrubbing and shaving as was 
never witnessed before. With their long hair cut, and 
several weeks' growth of beard removed, their appear- 
ance was greatly improved, and what with clean, warm 
clothing and barracks, and generous rations, their physi- 
cal condition improved also. But they were less hardy 
than Northern men, of slighter build and narrower 
chest, and they readily succumbed to the climate. Thev 
made desperate efforts to keep out of the hospital, for 
very few ever left a sick bed but for a narrower bed at, 
Oakwoods. The spring rains kept the ground wet and 
compelled the prisoners to remain in the barracks. As 
the weather grew warmer and the ground dried, they 
played ball and exercised on the parade ground. 

During the long wet days in the crowded barracks 
there was ample opportunity for tunnelling. Several 
attempts were made by parties of fifty to escape, but 
they were invariably captured and brought back. Later 
the barracks were raised several feet on piles, and 
escape was prevented, besides making the quarters dryer 
and healthier. 

These were busy times at Camp Douglas. Within 
eight months all the first consignment of prisoners had 
been exchanged, 30,000 troops had been equipped for 



350 THE GREAT TREASON PLOT 

the field and 17,000 prisoners and S,ooo paroled Union 
soldiers had been cared for. From Cottage Grove to 
State street, and from Thirty-first street to Hyde Park, 
was now covered with tents. The way to Camp 
Douglas in the summer of '62 might have been traced 
by the clouds of dust and the procession of military 
wagons. 

The processions did not stop at the Camp, but con- 
tinued southward to the " old graveyard by the lake 
shore," down the Vincennes road in bad weather, or 
through Hyde Park. Sometimes a bluecoat, some- 
times a gray, was taken to be laid in one or the other of 
the two plots that had been purchased by the govern- 
ment. Sometimes both lay in the wagon side by side, 
for death takes no account of clothes, or ideas, or dif- 
ferences. 

On the whole life went on smoothly at the camp. 
A rumor of weapons having been obtained by the 
prisoners gave momentary alarm, and a few prisoners 
were undoubtedly assisted to escape by Southern sym- 
pathizers who had charge of the distribution of supplies 
sent from homes in the South. There were ominous 
mutterings toward the end of '63, and the lines were 
drawn closer about the Camp. It was felt already that 
the men inside had means of communication with the 
Sons of Liberty and Knighs of the Golden Circle, and 
the "peace party" among the democrats began to be 
heard. 

In May, 1864, Colonel Benjamin J. Sweet was 
appointed to the command of Camp Douglas. As 
colonel of the Twenty-first Wisconsin regiment, Col. 



DURING THE WAR. 851 

Sweet had been, as was thoiio^ht, mortally wounded 
at Perryville, Kentucky, he having left an ambulance 
to engage in a desperate fight, where the major, three 
captains, and 300 men lost their lives. He himself was 
wounded in three places, and his elbow shattered so that 
it hung useless at his side. It was more than a year 
before he recovered. Refusing to be retired, and unfit 
for the field, he was sent to Camp Douglas, .which 
was thought to be an easy post, so far from the seat of 
war. 

Many of the older citizens of Chicago shook their 
heads when he arrived — a pale young man of 32, worn 
with long illness, his arm still painful. He was quiet 
and reserved, but soon gave evidence of great ability 
and untiring energy. From the citizens he learned of 
the precarious condition of Chicago and the danger that 
threatened it at the time of the Democratic convention 
to be held in July and August, when there would be an 
opportunity for a copperhead uprising. 

Colonel Sweet quietly left his headquarters on 
Washington street, and removed to the camp. He had 
all the prisoners' barracks raised on piles, more hospitals 
built, and military supplies brought in. The force that 
he had at hand to guard the prisoners and keep peace 
in the city was 896 men of the Veteran Reserves. To 
add to the difficulty of the situation prisoners arrived 
every few days until there was said by one authority to 
have been 23,000 inside the board fence. Two more 
regiments were supplied, but were kept as a reserve, 
to be used only in an emergency. One was ninety-day 
troops, who left before the emergency occurred. 



352 THE GREAT TREASON PLOT 

The prisoners began to wear a belligerent aspect, 
that increased as news of Union losses came. It was 
evident that a line of communication was established. 
" A Confederate prisoner who was at all tractable at 
this time would have to be dug out of the hospital," 
was said afterward by some of the Union officers. 



The country was shrouded in gloom ; the rebellion 
was as strong as ever. On every street, men who had 
gone to the front hale and hearty, now carried an empty 
sleeve or hobbled on crutches. The north had been 
drained of its best blood and was pale and disheartened. 
Women in black and half orphaned children were silent 
suppliants for peace, that gave the peace party an op- 
portunity to openly demand "peace at any price." Gold 
was held at 285 and the credit of the nation could 
scarcely go lower. The foreign powers were begin- 
ning to predict the success of the rebellion and Wash- 
ington was threatened. At this time Lincoln said to a 
citizen of Chicago, that when the rebels reached the 
capital they would find him at his desk and that there 
was a tree just outside the window. 

It may be believed that Chicago was in a precarious 
state. There were 22,000 prisoners in Camp Douglas 
with an available guard of 896 men. These men must 
also do detective work in the city, learn the plans of the 
Sons of Liberty and the Knights, make arrests of dan- 
gerous characters, find and seize the stands of arms con- 
cealed in various places, and stamp out incendiarism. 
And all this must be done without declaring martial 
law or intimating in any way that trouble was expected. 



DURING THE WAR. 353 

A breath of suspicion that their plans were known 
would fan the blaze of sedition into a conflagration. 

There was a vigorous party of loyal democrats who 
were determined to control the conv^ention. On the 
other hand, the opportunity to seize Chicago and the 
post, release the prisoners at Camp Douglas, burn, sack 
and massacre and start out to harry the North, was not to 
be neglected by the copperheads. Canada swarmed 
with rebel officers ready to take command. Under 
cover of the immense number of strangers arriving for 
the convention, these were quietly smuggled in. For 
three years, arms and ammunition had been collecting, 
until it would be an easy matter to arm every released 
man and every recruit. 

The conspiracy was brewing. The streets were filled 
with strangers, who wore a confident and insolent air. 
There were excursions out of the city, and it was 
learned that the pleasure seekers were Sons of Liberty 
and Knights of the Golden Circle, who went to a dis- 
tance for rifle practice. The families of the well to do 
left the city, and the men remained to fight for their 
homes and places of business. Every store contained 
arms, and could be barricaded in a few minutes. 
"Whisperings of blood running in the streets and of 
lamp posts bearing black republican fruit were in 
the air," wrote the late William Bross long afterward. 
The prisoners in the camp had a silent, alert manner, as 
if they were waiting for something to happen. When 
the last of them were released at the close of the war 
they confessed that they had been all formed into com- 
panies and regiments and brigades, and expected ofiicers 
from the South to command them. 



354 THE GEEAT TREASON PLOT 

The plan was to release the prisoners on the eve of 
the election, to take possession of the polls and prevent 
abolitionists from voting, to sack the city and then burn 
it, and to hang every " black republican " in it. Then 
vs^ith an army of at least 50,000 men and the " copper- 
head" uprising expected to occur all over the North, 
they intended to conquer the Union at one stroke and 
replenish the exhausted South with funds. Such was 
the great northwestern conspiracy, and there were less 
than 1,000 men under the command of a partly disabled 
man of 32 years to prevent the plan from being carried 
out. 

The day of the convention dawned upon 100,000 
strangers in Chicago. Every hotel was packed, and 
private houses were filled. Many slept on the door- 
steps. All day long and for many days crowds 
streamed down to the temporary wigwam on Michi- 
gan avenue, and on the debates hung the fate of the 
city. The loyal Democrats fought in the convention 
and the copperheads swaggered on the streets. At 
night there vvere torchlight processions, when banners 
and transparencies denouncing Lincoln and his adminis- 
tration were freely carried. Now and then the Union 
detectives, in plain clothes, would come upon groups of 
men sending up rockets, apparently without special 
purpose, but, watched for an evening, it was seen that 
a regular code of signals was made by the colors. The 
guard at the camp reported that these rockets were 
watched by the prisoners with interest. 

McClellan was nominated and the campaign begun. 
But the city did not clear of strangers. It was learned 




COL. G. ST. LEGER GRENFELL, 
Hero ofjthe "Black Flag," Chicago Conspiratoi'. 



8B6 THE GREAT TREASON PLOT 

that Colonel St. Leger Grenfell had arrived from Can- 
ada, and was to take command of the released prisoners. 
Captain HInes, the hero of General Morgan's roman- 
tic escape from the Ohio prison, was also here. The 
attack on the camp was to be made on the west side of 
the " board fence," as it was contemptuously called. 
The rebels had a well executed map of the camp, and 
could have found their way in the dark as easily as a 
person in his own home. But there was expected to be 
plenty of light from firing the barracks. Simultaneously 
with the storming from without, the prisoners were to 
fall on the guard and make breaches In the wall. Fif- 
teen minutes was expected to finish the capture of Camp 
Douglas. 



Day after day passed in frightful anxiety. The 
crowds that streamed to the wigwam were honey- 
combed with spies, who had the signs and passwords 
of the Sons and Knights, and not a move was made but 
that the commander was in possession of the news. 
No arrests were made. The belligerent wing of the 
democrats had declared that none should be made, and 
with his Inadequate force to quell disorder the com- 
mander thought it unwise to precipitate matters. 

It was well he did. Through all the Fall a firm hand 
was felt to be on the helm, and there was nothing more 
than boasting. The plotters were astonished to learn 
that their plans were known and frustrated. Just be- 
fore the election, Seymour and Tilden came on from 
New York, and the effect of their presence was felt at 
once. They worked with desperate energy to prevent 



DURING THE WAR. . 357 

the hotheads from doing violent deeds that would inev- 
itably ruin the party, and they so far prevailed that two 
bullies who had attacked a citizen submitted to be ar- 
rested and taken to jail. No attempt was made to 
rescue them by their friends. A day or two later more 
than a hundred other conspirators were quietly arrested 
and taken to Camp Douglas. 

There were now some distinguished prisoners in the 
camp. General St. Leger Grenfell, Morgan's adjutant, 
who had resigned his commission in the Confederate 
army and gone to Canada, was the most noted one. In 
his company were found J. T. Shanks, an escaped 
prisoner of war; Captain Cantrell, of Morgan's cavalry, 
and Colonel Vincent Marmaduke, Charles Walsh, a 
general of the Sons of Liberty, and Judge Buckner S. 
Morris, of Chicago, were taken into custody, though 
Judge Morris was afterward proved to be innocent. 
His arrest and trial was a lasting grief to him. Twenty- 
seven were arrested at the Fort Donelson house, all 
well armed. In Walsh's house were found a large 
quantity of fire arms and ammunition. Notice was 
sent out to belligerents expected by train to return 
home, but some of these missed the warning and cam.e 
on to Chicago, to be arrested on their arrival. 

The great northwestern conspiracy was over. With 
the election ended and the departure of the strangers, 
who fled after the arrests had been made, Chicago 
breathed freely. 

The hundred or so distinguished prisoners were taken 
to Cincinnati for trial. General Grenfell was executed, 
Charles Walsh sentenced to prison, some others ban- 



358 THE GREA.T TREASON PLOT 

ished to the Dry Tortugas, and Judge Morris acquitted. 
He had simpl}' been found in bad company. He never 
got over the grief of having been tried for conspiracy 
against the Union. His wUe, who confessed to having 
aided prisoners to escape, was paroled. 

In his report Colonel Sweet spoke of the feat per- 
formed by his small regiment of boys in blue as almost 
incredible. Not a blow was struck nor an incendiary 
fire kindled, but every plan of the conspirators was 
known and frustrated and every important man arrested 
and brought to trial. Twenty- two thousand prisoners 
had been kept inside the "board fence," the city had 
been protected and 150 arrests made by 896 men. 

The pale young commander was the hero of the 
hour. Had the trouble that was brewing so long come 
to a head, the conspirators would have numbered fifty 
to one for every armed Union man in Chicago. The 
city would have been wiped out of existence, and an 
army let loose to fan the fires of sedition that was slum- 
bering among Southern sympathizers all over the 
North. No one knows how long the war would have 
been prolonged in that case. During all this period the 
fate of the nation was trembling in the balance. Every- 
where throughout the North, the " peace party " was 
gaining in strength. 

Secretary Stanton was finding it difficult to fill the 
ranks decimated in frightful battles. The Union losses 
were severe. Grant was pounding away in the Wild- 
erness, and Sherman was marching through Georgia, 
fighting every separate bone in the vertebrae of the 
Confederacy toward Atlanta. In that dark hour 900 
men broke up the great conspiracy in Chicago. 



DURING THE WAR. 359 

But the pale young commander was worn out, and 
he resigned six weeks after testifying against the con- 
spirators at Cincinnati. But there was Httle else to do. 



After this brief but thrilling episode of the Summer 
and Fall of 1S64, Camp Douglas settled down to a quiet 
Winter. With the close of the war, the prisoners were 
gradually released and given transportation to their 
homes. It was in the Autumn of 1865 before the place 
was finally dismantled and the property sold. The 
high board fence was removed, and Henry Graves 
Esq., looking across the prairie from his home, so long 
encompassed by war, but unscarred by the mark of a 
bullet, saw the country slowly change. The prairie 
was gradually cut into blocks, the university abandoned 
and demolished. Stephen A. Douglas in bronze arose 
and looked out over Lake Michigan. 

The tide of population, setting southward, submerged 
the historic site and destroyed every landmark. 

It flowed on and the limits of Hyde Park were oblit- 
erated, the dividing line from the city; the street-car 
line was extended. The tide has now reached and 
gone beyond the iron fence that marks the boundaries 
of the " old country graveyard," and the desolate spot to 
which 6,000 Confederate soldiers were carried in wag- 
ons over mud roads, may now be reached by three lines 
of rapid transit, and lies softly folded in the heart of 
Chicago." 

The writer whom we have quoted has failed to 
state all the facts in relation to this period of imminent 
peril, and the reader is left to infer that by some 



360 THE GREAT TREASON PLOT 

almost miraculous means the Commander of Camp 
Douglas becjime apprised by the patriotic citizens of 
Chicago of the terrible plot which menaced the city 
with rain and the military and Union citizens with 
slaughter, and it is pertinent to set forth a few more 
essential facts in this connection. 

The Treason Plot^ so far as it had been brought to 
light in Indiana, by Gen. Carrington and others, put to 
rest effectually and completely whatever fears and sus- 
picions had existed in the public mind concerning the 
extensive organization of traitors known as the " Order 
of American Knights." It was believed that the 
treasonable Order had been fully exposed in all its 
workings, and that with the arrest of a few Indiana 
Conspirators, ended forever this cause of national peril. 
In Chicago, and the great cities of Illinois, with the pre- 
vailing Union sentiments, there existed no apprehension, 
no suspicion of the possibility of revival of treasonable 
designs — not a question nor a shadow of distrust even by 
the most vigilant Unionist. This confidence in Chi- 
cago was alike profound with the police, the city 
officials, and Union organizations, the newspaper men, 
the people generally. So secret the movements of the 
treasonable Order, that it seemed impossible to learn 
any important fact concerning them. 

For many weeks the writer of this volume endeavored 
in ways most expedient, to acquire reliable knowledge of 
the existence of the secret organization, its sinuosities and 
purposes, but for weeks he was unsuccessful, and yet he 
had traced to certain circles in Chicago, some of the 
leading and virulent men of Indiana known to have 



DURING THE WAR. 361 

been identified with the most dangerous Conspirators of 
their State. So subtle and so fiendish the Conspirators 
everywhere, it was deemed unsafe to even interrogate 
the poHce or detectives" lest such inquiry might be the 
note of alarm which would prevent all possible clue to 
avenues of information, for who could be trusted! And 
if in Indiana the State officials, and members of the 
legislature were not without the very worst of traitors, 
how could we discriminate between the loyal and the 
treasonable! Enough was ascertained from the police 
and city officials to convince the writer, that no fears, no 
suspicions were entertained of hidden danger to the city 
of Chicago, and reference was confidently made to the 
Prosecuting Attorney of the city, and to Judge Morris, 
mentioned in these pages, and the city slept soundly in 
fancied security. 

At length it became known beyond a peradventure 
or a doubt, that at that very moment there were three 
regiments of traitors duly organized, armed, drilled and 
ready for action, when the moment should come to kill; 
that there were sworn secret oro^anizations in Chicago 
gaining in numbers daily, and that the Judge was the 
presiding officer of these scoundrels, and the Prosecut- 
ing Attorney was himself a member of them, and that a 
prominent employee in the office of the Provost Mar- 
shal of Chicago, who with Union sentiments upon his 
lips by day, was by night an officer of the Conspirators, 
and never absent from their meetings; and much more 
was learned of their devilish purposes and villainies, 
and with a brace of loaded revolvers, — his only friends 
— he heard and saw the demons who sought to ruin 



362 THE GREAT TREASON PLOT 

the Country. To that moment not a word, or whisper 
or signal had been given by the writer of the horrid 
facts which he had learned. In Indiana some men in 
the Union army were members of the treasonable 
organization, and might it not be so even in the Camp 
in Chicago! Even the officers were to the writer un- 
known and none should be trusted at that moment. 

Hon. W. H. Rand (later of Rand, McNally & Co. 
a personal friend and a man of sterling integrity and 
known patriotism, was cautiously and later fully ad- 
mitted to the writer's confidence, and then came a feel- 
ing of partial relief from the soul-crushing anxiety that 
for weeks had weighed upon the writer's very heart. 
Mr. Rand was dazed, and seemed to question the sanity 
of his informant, and not until a full revelation of the 
knowledge gained, could he realize the awful peril of 
the city. Upon his full endorsement of Hon. U. S. 
Senator Isaac N. Arnold, the writer called on him and 
disclosed the startling facts. Mr. Arnold exclaimed: 
" Do you, sir, undertake to tell me this for truth? " And 
he looked upon me as if I were indeed a maniac, and 
hurriedly left the room, but soon returned pale and dis- 
turbed, and plied question after question with the rapid- 
ity and curtness of a lawyer to a witness suspected of 
lying. 

"Wait a moment!" he said nervously, and began to 
write, then folded a letter and addressed it to Gov. 
Yates. " Take this I beg you sir, instantly, to the 
Governor at Springfield." 

While Mr. Rand had been pledged to strictest 
secrecy, so too was Senator Arnold, and an hour 



DURING THE WAR. 363 

later, the writer was on his way to Springfield, and was 
soon in private interview with Governor Yates, who 
read Mr. Arnold's letter, and requested me to make my 
statement. I fully believe the Governor regarded the 
whole matter a sheer fabrication or an hallucination, and 
for a few moments was silent, looking upon me as an 
escaped lunatic. I can never relate the thoughts that 
flitted through my brain at that moment. I had never 
seen the Governor before, and the letter of U. S. Sena- 
tor Arnold seemed to have little weight in endorsing 
me. I espied upon his breast a keystone. I had one 
just like it, and it proved the needful voucher. A long 
conversation followed, and when I left the executive 
mansion, I bore v/ith me the Governor's commission and 
orders to report forthwith to Brig. Gen. H. E. Paine, 
then in command of the District of Illinois. By 
Gen. Paine — who also seemed to regard the duty 
which I had. undertaken as one for the performance of 
which he doubted my ability. By his order I entered 
upon it, and made my report at first to him, till I was 
ofticially placed in relation to Col. B. J. Sweet, com- 
mander of the Post, and to him, to Gen. Paine and 
to Hon. Secretary of War Stanton, my despatches 
were delivered with promptness and with full detail, 
and hence it was that the " young commander " was 
able to take effective and timely measures to prevent 
the calamity which menaced the city and the nation. 
In evidence of which are appended letters of Mr. Rand, 
U. S. Senator Arnold, Governor Yates, of Brig. Gen. 
H. E. Paine, Col. B.J. Sweet and Post Adj. Shurley. 
All of which will show by what means the horror was 



364 THE GREAT TREASON PLOT 

averted and the guilty brought to punishment. 



The writer whom I have quoted was in error in saying that the death sen- 
tence of Col. G. St. Leger Grenfell was executed. At the close of the war he 
entered the British service in Egypt, to follow his trade of blood. 



CHAPTER XXVII. 
The Race Problem in the United States — The 
Coming Race Superior to any now Existing — 
Patriotism — Young Men in History — A Les- 
son FOR THE times. 

The Race problem in this country is far more difficult 
to solve than in England; indeed an accurate solution is 
manifestly impossible until a sufficient length of time 
shall have elapsed to give that unity to our population 
which it necessarily lacks at the present time. We are 
not as yet one people, — we are many peoples, and all 
that can be done in a brief examination of our national- 
ity, present and prospective, is to judge from the lead- 
ing characteristics of the many, what the one will be 
when it shall arrive. 



DURING THE WAR. 365 

The wonderful variety of races to be found in the 
American Republic is an additional and far more 
important difficulty. No nation has ever drawn its 
supplies of humanity from such widely diverse sources. 
Eo^ypt, at the height of her renown, was only a close 
corporation composed of the tribes inhabiting the lower 
valley of the Nile. Greece prided herself upon the 
practical exclusion of "outside barbarians." Rome, 
when the foundations of her future empire were laid, was 
merely a concentration and organization of the rude 
popular forces of Southern Italy. England is the com- 
mon stock of only -five roots, omitting the Romans 
from the calculation, since they were in no sense ever 
fixed to British soil. 

In New York, Chicago, San Francisco, New Orleans 
or St. Louis, one may meet, in a single day's walk 
through the streets, the representatives of more distinct 
races of men than make up the combined nationalities 
of Egypt, Greece, Rome and England. America is 
literally the home of all nations. The vast extent 
of our territory, and consequent cheapness of land; 
our democratic form of Government; the opportunities 
offered for the acquisition of wealth; and the fascina- 
tion which always attaches to a new country, all unite 
to stimulate immigration from the four quarters of the 
globe. Europe, Asia and Africa contribute to the growth 
of America, and are severally represented in our nearly 
hundred millions of people. Chinese, Negroes, He- 
brews, Russians, Germans, Italians, Swiss, French, 
Dutch, Scandinavians, Poles, Spanish, Portugese, Irish, 
Scotch, Welsh, English, South Sea Islanders, Mexi- 



OLD HOME OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN, SPRINGFIELD, ILLS. 



DURING THE WAR. 867 

cans and South Americans, all meet here on the neutral 
ground, and are workinor tot>^ether for the formation of 
one people, which in the near or remote future shall 
embrace the ruling qualities of all. Hence we find a 
very, marked diversity of character and progress through- 
out the country, from the highest culture and refine- 
ment, down to the lowest condition recognized as civili- 
zation, the various nationalities severally exerting their 
influence upon entire communities to so great an 
extent, that a traveler can scarcely at all times believe 
himself to be in the same country in passing from State 
to State. 

Looking over this list of nationalities, which might 
be made even larger than it is, we may put our fingers 
upon several families that are not likely to enter largely 
into the united American family to come hereafter, and 
cannot exercise any permanent influence in the mouldmg 
of the national character. Their presence among us 
brings some good, and some evil, — it is not needful to 
balance the account, but they have neither the intel- 
lectual, nor the moral elements to make an indelible 
mark. They are now, and perhaps always must be 
foreigners j with us, but not always of us; coloring to 
a certain extent our legislation, language and habits of 
thought; affecting more or less our industry and finance; 
hindering or helping our general development, but 
accomplishing nothing of an enduring nature, — nothing 
which three or five hundred years hence, will be suffi- 
ciently visible to permit the tracing back to its origin. 

The America of the twenty-second century of the 
Christian era will be purely American only in its name 



368 THE GREAT TREASON PLOT 

and physical geography. It will be Europe passed 
through the American crucible. The most healthy and 
vigorous European races will have been melted together 
into an Americanized race, — a race, whose European 
blood and brain will be stamped with innumerable pe- 
culiarities, derived from American soil, climate, scenery 
and institutions. 

The foundation of this unity of races will doubtless 
be English, for while we have skaken off the political 
yoke of the mother country, the language, literature 
and best political ideas of England must always hold us 
nearer to the English type than to any other. The de- 
scendants of the Puritans and cavaliers who first settled 
Massachusetts and Virginia, cannot rid themselves of 
the ancestral chain which binds them to the grand little 
Island across the sea, and no revolution in politics, society 
nor religion can ever obliterate the impression made 
upon national manners and thought, by the strongly 
marked men who left home and friends to plant the 
seeds of English civilization and culture in the wilds of 
America. 

Accepting the English as the fundamental type of 
the future nationality, what other races will probably 
compose the predominating part of the superstructure? 
The statistics of emigration furnish an answer to this 
interesting question. Ireland and Germany send us the 
most re-inforcements; and the Irish and German char- 
acter has already infused itself into the American, to a 
much greater extent than is commonly supposed. 
There are more Irish in America to-day than in Ireland, 
and there are portions of America as German as Ger- 



DURING THE WAR. 869 

many; and while it is true that the Irish born in Ire- 
land, and the Germans born in Germany, are what is 
called "clannish," we have only to study their children 
to see that their clannishness is not permanent; it wears 
off rapidly in the second generation, and is scarcely per- 
ceptible in the third. 

In other words, the grandson of a German or Irish 
immigrant is, to all intents and purposes, an American, 
— not precisely the same sort of an American as the 
man of Anglo-Saxon lineage, but resembling him more 
closely than he does the Anglo-Saxon. Twenty gener- 
ations cannot extinguish all the race instincts and ideas, 
but enough of them are removed in the second or third, 
to foreshadow the inevitable result. 

It may then be safely predicted that when the amal- 
gamation is consummated, and the unity of races an es- 
tablished fact, we shall have a race of Americans, in 
which the eye of the careful observer may detect the 
sturdy virtues brought from England; the thrifty econ- 
omy and plain common sense brought from Germany; 
and the poetic imagination, matchless wit and invincible 
good nature brought from Ireland. 

All these blended into one^ and that one tinted, as it 
must be, by contact with races, smaller in numbers, and 
less distinct than the dominant three, will certainly pro- 
duce a nationality unlike any the world has jet seen, 
and in very many respects superior to any now existing. 

If the American Republic be true to itself, what a 
magnificent destiny awaits it! If false, the same influ- 
ences which might have made it greai^ will not only 
hasten its fall, but make that fall final, complete and ir- 
retrievable ruin! 



870 THE GREAT TREASON PLOT 

The 'love of one's Country,' always depends for its 
strength, ardor and endurance, upon the measure of 
respect which one entertains for it. The local attach- 
ments which a people may cherish for the natural fea- 
tures of their native land, their admiration of her scen- 
ery, their preference for her climate, or approval of her 
customs, do not necessarily imply any degree of patriot- 
ism, or aught, in fact, that may not co-exist with a feel- 
ing of contempt for the Country's institutions. Patriot- 
ism signifies 'love of Country — the land of one's nativity 
or adoption, its constitutional government, and all its 
aims and objects, — love for the institutions' which 
spring from its fostering care, respect for and trust in 
the rulers — the law-makers, the expounders of law, and 
its executors, — veneration for the fundamental princi- 
ples of its laws, that confidence and fraternization 
which characterizes a brotherhood of intelligent beings, 
whose interests are identical, whose welfare, as individ- 
uals or members of the great community depends, in a 
good degree, upon that confidence, trust, respect and 
general friendly regard or affection which the people 
entertain for each other, and the pride which is felt in 
the honor, power, credit and rank of the nation, among 
the peoples of the earth ! 

With this interpretation, there is no nation on the 
face of the globe, among whom patriotism is generally 
stronger, and surely none having so much cause for 
cherishing the sentiment, as the people of this country; 
for being a great family governing itself — proposing, 
devising and executing its own laws, by the concurring 
voice of its own members, building up its own institu- 



DURING THE WAR. 871 

tlons, revising and correcting whatever may be amiss, 
it would be as monstrous for an American not to love 
his country, as for a member of a family not to feel 
affection for those to whom he is most closely connected 
by consanguinity. The perpetuity, greatness and pros- 
perity of the nation, depend upon the patriotism of its 
citizens. Just in proportion as a person loses respect 
for his government, and pride in her institutions, just so 
far will his patriotism lose in its ardor, and when he 
finds in his country nothing to reverence and admire, 
he becomes indifferent to her honor andher interests, her 
distinction and glory. 

And this utter indifference— this total lack of patriot- 
ism, is bv no means always to hj regarded as proof of 
moral insensibility, a loss of any of the nobler impulses 
of the soul,— it is of itself only conclusive evidence of 
the most terrible misfortune, the most lamentable 
bereavement, the greatest loss, the deepest humiliation 
a person can experience. No more pitiable condition 
can be conceived, than an existence without a country— 
a sojourner, a homeless wanderer, in a strange land,— 
for which he has no affiliation, no love, no reverence, 
no respect, and in whose affairs he has, and can have, 
no interest, lot nor part. 

A nation may become so demoralized and corrupt as 
to alienate the reverence and respect of its citizens. 

As Americans, we glory in having a country emi- 
nently deserving of our reverence, our love, and recog- 
nize our obligations for its preservation, deeming no 
service too arduous, no sacrifice too great. It becomes 
us to guard, with jealous care, against any subtle and 



872 THE GREAT TREASON PLOT 

dangerous agency which can possibly insinuate itself to 
disparage her excellence, or to detract, in any degree, 
from those qualities so dear to the hearts of her people, 
or afford justification for any lack of patriotism. 

As a Nation, Americans are proud of their country's 
eminence — proud of having attained that eminence by a 
firm maintenance, for a century, of the just and vital 
principles upon which the government was founded. 
To maintain such glorious distinction, and to preserve 
our national institutions free from all corruption, free 
from stigma and dishonor, is an obligation the most 
sacred, the most imperative, — of the gravest importance, 
the magnitude of which cannot be overestimated, since, 
upon the fidelity of the people to the sacred trust, 
depends the perpetuity, prosperity and happiness of the 
Country. 

History records the fate of nations, as proud and 
as promising as our own — nations distinguished, in the 
zenith of their glory, for whatever was worthy of the 
love and respect of their citizens — whose glory and 
greatness declined and passed away, in consequence of 
their own neglect and their own errors. 

It becomes the people of this country always, to 
gravely consider the question — is there no danger of a 
decline — of retrograding from the proud position our 
nation occupies? It is morally certain, that if such 
danger shall ever come, it will be consequent upon our 
own errors and neglect. Upon the young men of 
America devolves the duty of guarding against such 
possible danger, by the intelligent and judicious exer- 
cise of powers which their country confers upon them. 



DURINGiTHE WAR. 378 

The danger — if danger may be apprehended — will 
be far more liable to ensue from neglect, than from any 
other cause. The extravagance of the people and the 
errors incident to the times, though often the theme of 
political economists, are certain in this country, in time, 
to find their own remedy; but in this age of activity, 
when the universal scramble for dollars is going on, 
there may be danger of neglecting the national welfare, 
in the narrow consideration of selfish gain. There may 
be danger from too much confidence in the proud posi- 
tion and status that the country has already attained. 
The elective franchise of which we boast, which should 
be so dear to all Americans, is too cheaply held. The 
machinery of the government has for so long a time 
moved so smoothly on, that we are apt to believe it will 
so continue to move for all time, regardless of vigilance 
and effort, and there is evidently a growing indifference 
to this greatest of privileges. Did any exigency arise 
imperiling or impeding our rights of election, were the 
ballot box in danger, were our privileges as voters in- 
fringed upon, the alarm would be sounded in a moment, 
the streets would resound to the tread of citizen soldiery, 
and a second Washington would lead a nation of free- 
men to battle against the usurper's power; but though 
no such exigency is liable to occur, the very privilege 
for which w'e would contend as a bulwark of safety of 
the nation, is year by year gradually more and more 
neglected, and by those who profess, and doubtless in 
their hearts do esteem it an inestimable right. Citizens 
for one reason or another — often inconsiderable — waive 
the great privilege for years, or altogether, and neglect 
to cast their ballots, however important an election may 



374 THE GREAT TREASON PLOT 

be, and surely no election ever occurs that is not of im- 
portance sufficient to demand a popular expression from 
all entitled to participate therein. If citizens neglect to 
exercise their right at the polls, and if in consequence, 
evil and incompetent men are elected to positions of 
honor and trust, and the public interest suffers thereby, 
the culpability of the negligent is quite as great as that of 
those who abuse the people's confidence, — both have 
been recreant to duty. Such neglect offers the most 
favorable opportunity to that numerous class of unprin- 
cipled men, who— in party parlance — are " ring politi- 
cians," whose prime motive is self-aggrandizement, and 
whose sordid souls are utterly incapable of '' love of 
country." Then- only ambition is the promotion of 
self-interest, and their highest aspirations are for attain- 
ing positions, or foisting their equally corrupt friends to 
places that will afford the best opportunity for plun- 
dering the public treasury. 

Two classes of men never fail to present themselves 
at the polls — ready to vote early and to vote often — one 
consisting of men who have an implied understanding, 
or a compact wnth the nominees, or entertain confident 
expectations of selfish gains, in the event of success, and 
a class who are utterly incompetent to form just judg- 
ments of men or of measures, and are for sale to the 
highest bidder. Though we distinguish these persons 
as two classes, their only difference is that the former do 
a credit business, and the latter do not; the former rely 
upon assurances, and live for a time upon hope, while 
the latter pocket or swallow their quid pro quo on the 
spot; and for patriotism, honor, principle or decency, 




MAJOR GENERAL JOSEPH HOOKER. 



376 THE GREAT TREASON PLOT 

they rank so nearly alike, that it would require a nice 
balance to discriminate between them. The latter class 
do not always receive even such tangible rewards for 
their imbecility or villainy, but only hypocritical and 
hollow expressions of cordial friendship, gratifying to 
their vanity, and perhaps inciting hopes of advantages 
that are never to be realized. These base and pitiable 
wretches would sell their country for a " mess of pot- 
tage," — they would barter their own mothers' graves 
for pieces of silver. How often these human jackals 
and vultures do attain their ends, is known but too well. 
Some of them begin their infamous work at the prim- 
ary meetings, and continue it, till they finally reach the 
Capital, where they fatten till too plethoric to longer 
work, and die eating from the public crib. 

The defalcations, embezzlements and other forms of 
larceny from the public funds are generally perpetrated 
by the more greedy of this contemptible class; and 

Of what great use are men's ingenious locks 

Upon the people's well filled money-box? 

A master-piece of skill they are, no doubt, 

And doubtless they would keep all burglars out, 

But their great value, still we fail to see. 

If Whats-their-names be trusted with a key. 

Positions gained by chicanery and fraud, reflect no 
honor upon their possessors. They afford opportunities, 
it may be — more safe than most others, so it would 
seem, by recurring to the records of the past, but a 
robber is a robber, whether he be a treasurer, a govern 
ment official of any grade or station, or a horse-thief, a 
house-breaker, a sneak-thief, or a highwayman. 

As a rule aspirants for office are least deserving or 



DURING THE WAR. 377 

qualified for them. The best public officials our country- 
has ever had, have been those least disposed to seek 
office. The same is true, not only of the national gov- 
ernment, but of States, Cities and Towns. Partizan- 
ship and patriotism have little affiliation; a strict par- 
tizan is seldom a patriot. The axiom that the whole 
is greater than a part, is self-evident. A strict adherence 
to party tenets, tends to illiberality and bigotry, for 
*'party," as applied to politics at least, is by no means a 
synonym for "principle." 

The policy, which has long prevailed, of rewarding 
adherents of the dominant party for services in securing 
the election, by offices and positions of profit and 
responsibility, without due regard to integrity and 
capabilities, tends directly to the most pernicious results. 
— Qualifications, rather than favoritism or devotion to 
party, should rule in every appointment, in a country 
like ours, if we would not endanger that respect and 
reverence upon which true patriotism is based. 

Barter and sale of votes, whether for cash payments 
— rum payments or both, or on the credit plan, is a de- 
gree of infamy as dangerous and deserving of execra- 
tion, as it is universally condemned by honorable men; 
but as execrable as it is, it is practised in our elections, 
and the practice is becoming of alarming magnitude. 

Is it possible to conceive of a more humiliating spec- 
tacle than of persons aspiring to be Governors, Sena- 
tors, and Representatives of the American nation, 
toadying to besotted, ignorant wretches, pampering to 
their appetites, appealing to their vices for insuring their 
election or increasing their majorities. Are such in- 



378 THE GREAT TREASON PLOT S^J^SS 

stances unknown, can they never be found, are they ^^ 
rare occurrence? Let your observation at future elec- 
ions supply the answer. 

Public offices should never be dispensed in payment 
for party services or influence; they should be awarded 
only to the meritorious. The honor of any office within 
the gift of the people, is to be estimated as an expression 
of popular confidence. When the salary or income of 
an office is the prime consideration with the candidate, 
and when his qualifications are resolved into his capacity 
for intrigue and baseness, for imbibition, for liberality 
in dispensing bribes of whatever sort, to him or his 
confreres^ coadjutors, allies, or employees in the busi- 
ness, we need not look for exemplars of true patriotism. 

That there would be very great danger to the 
country from the machinations of corrupt politicians, or 
rather of dishonest partisans, who really know little, 
and care less, of " politics," in the true significance of 
the wc;rd — "-the science of government " is beyond a 
question, had we not a potent safeguard, which the 
people are proudly conscious of possessing. 

The protection consists in a never-ceasing vigilance, 
and a prompt and proper discharge of the duties which 
devolve upon all good citizens — an intelligent exercise 
of those powers which the government confers upon 
her sons for the public weal. 

It is not enough to watch with eagle eye, to take an 
active part in the election of men, in promoting or con- 
demning proposed measures affecting the general good 
— as they may seem judicious or otherwise, but there 
should be an intelligent exercise of these obligations, 



DURING THE WAR. 879 



which can only be made by those possessing requisite 
quahfications, — not merely those prescribed by law, but 
a knowledo^e as thorough as can be attained relative to 
the vital issues, the practical solution of which devolves 
upon citizens. 

Is it to be believed that all the young men of Amer- 
ica upon attaining the honor of participating in the 
affairs of the State, by casting their first ballots, are 
well informed upon the great questions in the decision 
of which they are called upon to give expression to 
their views and their will? The question does not con- 
cern their enthusiasm or their capacity of lungs, but 
their intellectual qualifications. Is there not a minority, 
large enough to influence an election, who are not so 
qualified, — who know little of the practical workings 
of the machinery of the government, who have not 
studied sufficiently the question of public finance -the 
resources, the revenue and the obligations of the gov- 
erninent, or its foreign relations, who are not versed in 

the history possibly the geosrraphy of the country, or 

who have not carefully read the provisions of its Con- 
stitution,— are there not some whose knowledge is very 
limited concerning even our plan of representation, and 
have but an imperfect conception of the duties of the 
officers their votes may aid to elect? Is there nothing 
of all this upon which they are not duly advised?— Are 
there not voters who have long shared in all the rights 
and benefits of American citizenship, who are also 
wanting in like qualifications? And are they seeking, 

if such there be, the information which will enable 

them to interpose effective barriers against evil in what- 
ever form it may ever threaten? 



880 THE GREAT TREASON PLOT 

Never since the foundation of our government — if we 
read Annerican history aright and judge, with that can- 
dor which is consistent with a love of country — has 
there existed a greater necessity for vigilance, or for 
more prudent legislation and administration, — hence 
eminent qualifications upon the part of rulers and 
people, than at the j^resent day; never has there been 
an opportunity when evil men in authority could work 
greater injury to the country, or when there was a 
greater need of a general and true patriotism. 

The obligations of all, enjoying the inestimable rights 
of citizens, are no less weighty and binding now, than 
they were upon the noble founders and defenders of 
our liberties, who have passed away, and to whose 
glorious records we turn with pride, therein to find an 
exemplification of that true patriotic ardor which every 
free man should possess. As we look back through the 
long vista of years upon the times and the men, we 
find the luster of their fame untarnished, — their wisdom 
confirmed, and we revere their memories — the hallowed 
memories of patriots, to whom party and power and 
the emoluments of office were nothing, to whom their 
country, her good, her honor, her greatness and her 
glory, was everything. 

"History," says E. P. Whipple in discoursing of 
"Young Men in History," "is an imperfect record of 
nations and races, diverse in their position and capa- 
cities, but identical in nature and one in destiny. 
Viewed comprehensively, its individuals and events 
comprise the incidents of an uncompleted biography of 
man, a biography long, obscure, full of puzzling facts 



DURING THE WAR. 881 

for thought to interpret, and more puzzHng breaks for 
thought to bridge, but on the whole, exhibiting man as 
moving and man as moving forward. If we scrutinize 
the character of this progress, we shall find that the 
forces which propel society in the direction of improve- 
ment, and the ideas we form of the nature of that im- 
provement, are the forces and ideas of youth. The 
world, indeed, moves under the impulses of youth to 
realize the ideals of youth. It has youth for its begin- 
ning and youth for its end; for youth is alive, and 
progress is but the movement of life to attain fuller, 
higher, and more vivid life. 

Youth, too, is nearer to those celestial fountains of 
existence whence inspirations pour into the heart and 
light streams into the brain. Indeed, all the qualities 
which constitute the life of the soul, and which preserve 
in vigor and health even the practical faculties of the 
mind, — freshness, ardor, generosity, — love, hope, faith, 
courage, cheer, — all these youth feels stirring and brun- 
ing in its own breast, and aches to see fulfilled in the 
common experience of the race. 

In passing from the field of battle to the field of pol- 
itics, from young men as warriors, to young men as 
statesmen, we must bear in mind that high political 
station, unless a man is born to it, is rarely reached by 
political genius, until political genius has been tried by 
years and tested by events. At the time Mr. Calhoun's 
influence was greatest, at the time it was said that 
" when he took snuff all South Carolina sneezed," he 
was really not so great a man as when he was strug- 
gling for eminence. 



882 THE GREAT TREASON PLOT 

Statesmen are thus forces long before they are lead- 
ers of party, prune- ministers, and presidents; and are 
not the energies employed in preparing the way for 
new laws and new policies of more historic significance 
than the mere outward form of their enactment and 
inauguration? 

But it is not so much by eminent examples of young 
statesmen, as it is by the general influence of young men 
in resisting the corrupting tendencies of politics, that 
their influence in the social state is to be measured. 
They oppose the tendency of political life to deprave 
political character, to make it cold, false, selfish, distrust- 
ful, abandoned to the greed of power and the greed of 
gain. They interfere with the projects of those vener- 
able politicans who are continually appealing to the 
public to surrender, bit by bit, its humanity, its moral- 
ity, its Christianity, for what are ludicrously misnamed 
practicil advantages, and who -slowly sap the moral 
vitality of a people through an insinuating appeal to 
their temporary interests. 

The heart of a nation may be eaten out by this pro- 
cess, without its losing any external signs of prosperity 
and strength; but the process itself is resisted, and the 
nation kept alive and impelled forward, by the purify- 
ing, though disturbing forces, which come from the 
generous sentiments and fervid aspirations of youth. 

And in the baptism of fire and blood through which 
our politics are passing to their purification, who can 
fitly estimate our indebtedness to the young men who 
are now making American history the history of sq 
much ardent patriotisn) and heroic achievegient.? 



DURING THE WAR. 883 

When the civilization of the country prepared to 
enornore in a death-ormpple with its barbarism, — when 
the most benificent of all governments was threatened 
by the basest of all conspiracies, the most infamous of 
all treasons, the most thievish of all rebellions, — and 
when that government was sustained by the most glo- 
rious uprising that ever surged up from the heart of a 
great people, to defend the cause of liberty and hones'.y 
and law, — did not the hot tide of that universal patriot- 
ism sparkle and seethe and glow with special intensity 
in the breasts of our young men? 

Did you ever hear from them that contentment was 
Christian peace? Did not meanness, falsehood, fraud, 
tyranny, treason, find in them not apologetic critics, 
but terrible and full armed foes? Transient defeat, — 
what did it but add new fiery stimulants to energies 
bent on ultimate triumph? 

To hint to them that Davis would succeed, was not 
only recreancy to freedom, but blasphemy against God! 
Better, to their impassioned patriotism, that their blood 
should be poured forth in an unstinted stream,— better 
that they, and all of us, should be pushed into that 
ocean whose astonished waves first felt the keel of the 
Ma} flower; as she bore 'her precious freight to 
Plymouth Rock, — than that America should consent to 
be under the insolent domination of a perjured horde of 
slave holders and liberticides! But that consent could 
never be extorted. Minds, like theirs, which had been 
nurtured on the principles of constitutional freedom, — 
hearts, like theirs, which had ca^ight inspiration from 
the heroes and martyrs of liberty, — good right arms, 



884 THE GREAT TREASON PLOT 

like their-s, which wielded the implements of war as 
readily as the implements of labor, all scouted the very 
thought of such unutterable abasement. By the pat- 
riotism which abhors treason, by the fortitude which 
endures privation, by the intrepidity which faces death, 
they proved themselves worthy of the great continent 
they inhabit by showing themselves capable of uphold- 
ing the principles it represents. 

But the question arises, Cannot this youth be pre- 
served, or, at least, prepetually renewed? We have 
seen, m this rapid glance at history, that it is preserved 
as long as the mind retains its hold on the life of things; 
and we have seen, both in men of action and in men of 
meditation, this hold weakened by age. 

But would it be weakened, if the loftiest meditation 
issued in deeds instead of thoughts? Would youth de- 
part, if the will acted on the same high level that the 
mind conceived? This, also, is a question which has 
been historically answered. It has been answered by 
heroes, reformers, saints, and martyrs, — by men who 
have demonstrated, that, the higher life, the more dis- 
tant the approaches of age, — by men whose souls on 
earth have glanced into that region of spiritual ideas 
and spiritual persons where youth is perpetual, where 
ecstacy is no transient mood, but a permanent condition, 
and where dwell the awful forces which radiate immor- 
tal life into the will." 

When another century shall have rolled away, and 
the events of to-day shall be recorded with impartial 
hand, will the deeds and the words of this age continue 
to verify the confident hopes and reasonable expecta- 



, DURING THE WAR. 885 

tlons of those who gave to us the priceless boon to enjoy 
and to transmit? It is for us, for our children, and for 
those who may follow them to determine. If to be a 
Roman Senator was to be greater than a King, to be 
an American citizen with the powers and heart he 
should possess, is to be greater than " the noblest Ro- 
man of them all." 









.arS^ ^ 








LIEUTENANT GENERAL JOHN M. SCHOFi 



llli^U, U. C ^^1 



DURING THE WAR. 887 



CHAPTER XXVIII. 

Are the Americans True to Themselves — 
National Characteristics — Our National 
Standard of Excellence — Brain Power a 
Productive Capital — Active Agencies of 
Evil in This Country — Inherent Elements 
OF Safety or of Destruction — The Great 
Evils Adverse to the Highest Excellence — 
India Rubber Ethics, and Errors in Politi- 
cal Economy — What of the Twentieth Cen- 
tury? — The Reforms, Qualifications and 
Attainments Indispensable to the Welfare 
of the Nation. 

Are the Americans true to themselves? What con- 
ditions will rnsure the glorious conditions we invoke? 

These questions, of gravest importance, require for 
proper discussion far more space than is afforded within 
the limits to which it must be confined. 

To an American, what a magnificent picture is the 



S88 THE GREAT TREASON PLOT 

map of his country ! Railroads and canals look like a 
delicate net-work spread over its eastern half, and with 
its lines of telegraph and telephones, it realizes the per- 
fect ideal of internal communication. Side by side with 
the mighty workshops of this region, stand the school, 
the college, and the church. The resources of this dis- 
trict are almost infinite. Population clusters and grows 
dense here. Wealth flows into it. It is the great pro- 
ductive garden of the world, while below the surface 
wealth lies inexhaustible, treasures most valuable to 
man. 

To gain an adequate idea of the vast regions of the 
West, we must consider that England, Ireland, Scot- 
land and Wales, together, do not equal in extent the 
Territory of Montana; that the whole German Empire 
is not so vast as the single State of Texas; that our 
Western Territories are severally larger than all New 
England! 

" Young America outstrips the poet's flying horse, 
scales the summit of Olympus, besieges the throne of 
Jupiter, defies his thunderbolts, spikes his thunder-can- 
non and bears away his faithful lightning as a present 
to mankind, to become a scientific international football. 
Franklin lassoed the lightning-steed with his kite string, 
and brought it down to earth, where it stood wild and 
prancing and unbroken to harness, till Morse with his 
wires and his batteries, harnessed it to the telegraph, to 
flash our thoughts across the continent — over rivers and 
mountains and all terrestrial obstacles. When rolling 
billows refuse him the right of way on which to plant 
his poles, he applies to Neptune and lays his submarine 



DURING THE WAR. 389 

cable in depths beyond the sporting ground of whales, 
undisturbed by storms and waves, and bids his light- 
ning-steed plunge to rise on the other shore with 
messages from man to man." 

Radicalism and progress are the order of the day. 
Enterprise, energy, ambition, quickness of perception 
and rapidity of execution, are distinguishing traits of the 
American character. These qualities are so eminently 
contagious that immigrants landing upon our shores 
scarcely feel the solid earth beneath their feet, ere they 
participate to the fullest extent in the bustling activity 
of our people. 

A great city is laid in ashes, and a twelve month is 
ample time with us for its reconstruction upon a grander 
scale than before. An exploring party determines the 
site for a settlement, and a few months later, a corner lot 
in the city that springs up as by magic is a fortune to 
the holder. Americans find Uncle Sam's dominions too 
small for so fast a people. Not content with a conti- 
nent extending from the Atlantic to the Pacific, even 
after crowding, "Lo, the poor Indian," as far toward the 
setting sun as possible, we are considering the purchase 
of other lands and to provide for future contingencies 
sometimes send out parties to prospect about the North 
Pole. Ours is an age when the machinery of business 
and of life whirls with such swift and giddy motion, 
that old-fashioned men declare with 'bated breath — " If 
we do not put down the brakes, we will run the train 
straight to perdition!" 

The only conservative element in this country comes 
to us in immigration from the more phlegmatic nations 



390 THE GREAT TREASON PLOT 

of Europe, but even the sturdy German, who was 
never known to hurry at home, soon assimilates with 
the people here, and in early time becomes as fast as 
any of them, and proclaims his motto — " Every mon 
for mineself !" 

The jolly, brawny Irishman clambers over the ves- 
sel's side, with all his earthly treasures in a pack, pend- 
ant from his stick, upon his shoulder. He makes his 
wav still further westward, to build our railroads, and 
to earn the wherewithal to bring "the ould mither, an' 
the childer" from their wretched home across the sea, 
to this great land of liberty and plenty. 

Then comes bluff John Bull, with ruddy face, broad 
shoulders and capacious chest, to this " blarsted coun- 
try." Here he budds a " little 'ouse," marries a fair 
Yankee maid, and though in after years this country is 
not to him just like " merrie Hingland," yet when the 
little Johnnies come, he joins them on our natal day 
in their hurrahs for Yankee Doodle! 

Immigrants by thousands are every year hastening to 
our shores to share the benefits awaiting them; and 
still in the East, and over the " sea," millions of hands 
want acres — here millions of acres want hands." 

To make all our enterprises, investments and under- 
takings " pay " immediately and largely, the most stren- 
uous efforts are directed. With money-making and 
multifarious causes of excitement, the people are push- 
ing onward with increasing velocity, seldom pausing to 
consider the consequences of their haste, either as affect- 
ing themselves or future generations. 

Our national standard of excellence, in all the avoca- 



DURING THE WA&. 89i 

tions of life, is not only as high as that of any nation in 
the world, and above that of many distinguished for 
their culture, for their encouragement of the arts, and 
for their valuable contributions to the wants of men by 
mechanism and productions, but we indulge in a war- 
rantable national pride in the consciousness that Ameri- 
cans are making still greater advancement, and that the 
attainments which a few years ago were ample for se- 
curing eminence in science and art, are now but the or- 
dinary requirements for average respectability. 

The appreciation of American inventions is no less 
abroad than at home. A want is scarcely experienced 
that is not promptly met with the very mechanism best 
adapted to its satisfaction. All in art that man has 
done worth the doing, Americans will do, and the lim- 
itation of their inventions will be the ample supply of 
everything suggested by the wants of nien. Scientists 
are pursuing their investigations untrammeled by the 
theories of the past, and the grandest discoveries in 
science follow each other so rapidly that the world is 
no longer startled by their magnitude, and is slow to 
pronounce any achievement proposed by rational men 
an impossibility. 

Delightful is the ofhce of him who tells only of the 
greatness and excellence of his people; but his the office 
of the indiscriminati ng and bountiful steward who re- 
ceives the golden harvest and rewards the husbandmen 
alike — the diligent and the slothful. 

Delighted with the thrifty yield, 
Unmindful of the barren field — 
The thistles and the tares— 
What is delights, what might have been 
He neither knows nor cares. 



892 THE GREAT TREASON PLOT 

Brain power is a productive capital. All men ulti- 
mately find their level. Of those who start out together 
in the race some become famous, some become infam- 
ous, while many others remain or sink to nonentities. 
Every man has his fort if he only knows how to 
hold it. 

The facilities for a thorough education are so abund- 
ant in this country, that it is little short of culpability to 
be in ignorance. An ignorant man or woman under 
fifty years of age, born and residing in the United 
States is an idler, undeserving the privileges of our free 
and noble institutions. Here where there are free 
schools^ and libraries, and books are as plentiful as the 
leaves of Autumn, and almost as cheap, and where 
journals are encyclopedias of useful knowledge can 
always be obtained for the merest trifle, there is no 
excuse for ignorance save for the blind and deaf, if 
indeed for them. A professional man who is an Ignor- 
amus never takes a dollar for his services that he is not 
morally guilty of obtaining money by false pretense. 

With so glorious a country, so favored of heaven, 
with such eminence won and attainable in all that gives 
character, dignity and power to a nation, and pre-emi 
nence to the American Union, the inquiry is pertinent 
and especially so at the present time — are there not in this 
country adverse agencies and influences at work with 
potency and activity — are there not conditions existing 
and developing which menace the well being of the 
great community, and tend to retard the attainment of 
the grand possibilities of the nation? 

The thunders of the Revolution announced to mon- 



DURING THE WAR. 393 

archical Europe the birth of Freedom in the new world 
— a new era in the great world's history; and then 
began an evolution for humanity, which has made 
advancement to the present hour, with marvellous gra- 
dations of which the old world had never dreamed, and 
insured for American institutions that perpetuity which 
cannot be abridged by any foreign power. 

Within itseW are the elements of safety and security 
from whatever shocks from without, and yet within 
itself, by perversion of its powers, may be effective 
agencies of its own destruction. Great political crimes 
originate in secret organizations where crime is taught 
as a virtue, and only secrecy is held sacred. The part 
of wisdom is to suppress the first utterance of sedition 
as effectually and promptly as riotous acts. It is the 
spark that kindles the conflagration. The hordes of 
Europe who come to our shores imbuded with ideas 
antagonistic to American institutions and with a false 
idea of " liberty " should receive instruction, and by 
object lessons, if needful, be required to promptly con- 
form to the laws of the land. 

There is an underlying sense of right and justice in 
the American people higher than all human law — that 
innate consciousness of right and wrong planted in the 
heart by the Almighty and fostered by a century of pro- 
gress; and this higher law is more mighty than dyna- 
mite or any destructive agency wielded by barbarians 
claiming to be civilizers. It is the highest Court of 
appeal whose judgments seldom err, and upon this 
higher law may be safely based hopes of the brilliant 
future of our country. If conditions arise for which 



894 THE GREAT TREASON PLOT 

adequate provisions do not exist, in the sovereign people 
is vested the power to secure even handed justice to all. 

It is not from foreign powers that great danger to 
the Republic need be apprehended, but to internal 
agencies of evil must our vigilance be ever especially 
directed. The great evils adverse to the highest excel- 
lence, — far reaching evils subversive in tendency to 
Republican institutions — are in a very notable degree, 
the vices prevalent among the people, prominent of 
which is Avarice — the eager desire for great and im- 
mediate gain, and possession of inordinate wealth. It 
is productive of a multiplicity of evils of the most dam- 
aging and destructive type, both as affecting the individ- 
ual and the community. 

It is adverse to noble apsirations. It tends to dis- 
honorable dealing, and not only to dishonesty in all 
its phases, but to the oppression of men. It demands 
bloody when God requires only the sweat of the brow 
It bargains for brain^ for sinews and muscle^ giving in 
exchange and grudgingly, only busies to keep the 
human mechanism in working order. It causes to the 
operative, deprivation of agencies and conditions essen- 
tial to healthful life and happiness. When he reads in 
Holy Writ " The laborer is worthy of his hire," "The 
earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof;" and begins 
to ponder on the meaning, Hon. Avaricious Money- 
bags, the " Hard shell" points to the words of easy com- 
prehension — "Didst not thou agree with me for a 
penny!" 

It reaches out to families— wives and children, with pale 
faces and of feeble health; and clutches them vv^ith its 



^ DURING THE WAR. • 896 

brazen claws, and shrieks to them — " Ye shall not have 
homes, nor luxuries, nor comforts of life, for the cost of 
these shall go to fill my coffers!" ♦ 

It makes bad citizens — debtors who cannot pay their 
honest dues. It disfranchises men, or what is worse, 
deprives them of opportunities for acquiring information 
requisite for intelligent franchise. It tends to the 
creation of castes hostile to each other, till man looks 
upon his fellow man with hatred; and the land of plenty 
— the land of freedom becomes but a myth or region 
to millions inaccessible. Avarice is indeed a subtle, 
dangerous foe to American institutions! 

In this fast age with all our legislation, when mortal- 
ty is made subservient to self-interest, and there are so 
many opportunities for fraud and dishonest and dishon- 
orable dealing — with such defects and anomalies in our 
statutes and india rubber ethics that too generally pre- 
vail, many men in all professions and callings acquire 
wealth and ephemeral distinction who are far more de- 
serving of the penitentiary and who are utterly wanting 
in ability to cope with their honest neighbors who make 
less haste to acquire riches. 

To ape the rich, men, and women too, not only ex- 
pend their hard earnings to the uttermost farthing, but 
mortgage their future years, or sell themselves into 
slavery for life — the worst of bondage, that of debt, and 
with the trappings of wealth, at which, knowing all, old 
Shylock laughs, they stint and starve, concealed from 
public view, or steal, calling the theft by the milder 
name of debt\ and otherwise plunge into crime and 
guilt beyond hope of restitution or restoration, and this 



396 THE GREAT TREASON PLOTJ 

fearful price for show and sham — for seeming what 
they are not. 

Many an aspirant for 'great and sudden wealth woos 
Fortune in markets where men buy and sell whole 
warehouses of grain, or the season's produce, who have 
not grain of any kind enough to make a mouse a break- 
fast. With sales and purchases " long " and " short," 
with "margins" and balances against him, at last the 
avaricious wretch goes under; and having lost his all, he 
appropriates the property of his neighbor, and 

Both sink beneath the tide, 
Of fitful markets' fluctuation; 
Or to avert such degradation 
He tries some other speculation, 
And failing, in his desperation, 
Ends all in suicide. 

When avarice becomes a ruling passion and thoughts 
are mainly directed to money-getting; when our acts 
and offices in relation to our fellow men are all meas- 
ured by prospective profits that may accrue to us, the 
mind becomes incapacitated for noble pursuits, useful- 
ness becomes limited, the heart becomes sordid and 
mercenary and incapable of great enjoyment. 

Justice Brown, of the United States Supreme Court, 
in an address upon the dangers of the Twentieth Cen- 
tury, presents views of the greatest interest and value, 
regarding certain vital questions of the day, which have 
so direct a bearing upon the subject under discussion 
that a few extracts of the address are here presented. 

" There are certain secondary effects which have 
become apparent within the last third of a century 
which threaten not only to affect the political future of 



DURING THE WAR. 897 

every State, but also to revolutionize the entire product- 
ive industry of the world. They may be summed up 
in the one word "consolidation." The small States are 
absorbed by the great ones. Many small enterprises are 
replaced by a few large ones. Great corporations 
monopolize the production of all the comforts, and many 
of the necessaries of life. The small employer is dis- 
appearing. 

" The processes of combination, have not only put 
practically the entire manufacturing industry of the 
Country into the hands of corporations, but have en- 
abled the latter to put an end to competition among 
themselver by the creation of trusts. On the other 
hand, labor is gradually consolidating, with the avowed 
purpose of dictating the terms upon which the product- 
ive and transportation industry of the country shall be 
carried on. The reconciliation of this strife between 
capital and labor, if possible, is the great problem of the 
coming century. 

" I do not believe the solution lies in the triumph of 
Socialism and the distinction of private property, but 
there may be a gradual enlargement of the functions of 
Government, and the ultimate control of national 
monopolies. I can see no sound reason why the Gov- 
ernment may not own railroads as well as highways, 
and why a city may not run street railways, gas works, 
etc. 

" But, while I have no doubt of the ultimate settle- 
ment of these social problems, I see certain perils which 
menace the immediate future of the Country, and even 
threaten the stability of its institutions. They are 



898 THE GREAT TREASON PLOT 

Municipal misp^overnment, Corporate greed, and the 
tyranny of labor. Concerning the first of these I have 
nothing to say that has not been said before, nor do I 
suggest a remedy, except that if universal suffrage fails 
and we cannot have government by the w^hole people, 
let us have government by the better class and not by 
the worst. 

" Corporations within their proper sphere are a bless 
ing, but corporate powers have too often been grossly 
abused. Worse than this, however, is the combination 
of corporations in trusts to limit production, stifle com 
petition, and monopolize the necessaries of life. 

"If no student can light his lamp without payini,^ 
tribute to one company; if no housekeeper can buy a 
pound of meat or of sugar without swelling the receipts 
of two or three all-prevailing trusts — what is to prevent 
the entire productive industry of the country becoming 
ultimately absorbed by a hundred gigantic corporations? 

" But the most immediate danger, is the tyranny of la- 
bor. It arises from the apparent inability of the laboring 
man to perceive that the rights he exacts, he must also 
concede. If, for instance, an employer of labor should 
discharge an employe, or refuse to hire him because of 
a difference between them as to wages, and should then 
forbid his obtaining employment elsewhere, and should 
assault the person and burn the property of anyone who 
proposed to give him work, he would naturally be con- 
sidered a fit subject for mental treatment; yet a year 
never passes in which outrages of this description are 
not perpetrated under the name of "rights of labor." 
Men are harried, assaulted, and stoned simply because 



DURING THE WAR. 899 

they are willing to work for less than their assailants, 
while property is burned, public travel arrested, and 
large cities reduced to hunger, that great corporations 
may be compelled to employ workmen at wages fixed 
by themselves. This, too, in a nominally free country.' 
Such conditions the justice says are intolerable. And 
yet he does not think the outlook for a permanent peace 
between capital and labor an encouraging one, though 
he thinks a compromise may be effected on the basis of 
profit-sharing. 

But in spite of these threatening dangers. Justice 
Brown says, that "So long as we can preserve the purity 
of our courts, we need never despair of the Republic. 

Availability is the political watchword. High intel- 
ligence, high moral princi[^le, true patriotism and true 
indeperidence of character are qualities too seldom found 
united in the men who compose our National, State or 
City Councils. The ruling elements of political success 
in these days seem to be coal-oil, gunpowder, whisky 
and the drum! If we would not degrade the country 
patriots, statesmen and heroes have loved, if we would 
not have Lilliputians stand where giants have stood, if 
we would not have inferiority, ignorance, and corrui^tion 
a lasting stigma upon our national honor, the people 
must vs^ork the grand reforms of the evils of our fast 
age, and this can only be done, so far as relates to gov- 
ernmental policy, by an intelligent exercise of the privi- 
leges and duties of citizenship. 

Is not the lesson of the hour that he who best plays 
the deceiver's part is most sure of winning fame and 
fortune? Is not human life in America cheaply held.? 



400 THE GREAT TREASON PLOT 

Are not the habits of the age tending to lax morality, ^ 
to irreverence for relig^ion, to disregard of the courtesies! 
and social amenities of life? What a lesson for the; 
youth of today ! What its influence upon the future! 
generations! j 

" Too steep the gradients of this headlong age — 

Too sharp its curves for safety or for strength; 

Too swift the motion, and too reckless the laws of life! " 

Purity of life in every relation is of prime import 
ance in the character of any man. Without it, genius, 
learning, wit, eloquence and cultivation are worse than 
in vain. The people must cease to undervalue the 
worth of moral excellence and virtue, and learn to con- 
sider that the want of these cannot be compensated for 
by genius, however brilliant, by learning however exten- 
sive, nor by any advantages, however fascinating and 
valuable in themselves, which either the bounty of 
Nature, the power of industry, or the most accom- 
plished education can bestow. 

By such reforms, qualifications and attainments as 
have been indicated, while we become most useful, we 
secure for ourselves the true and rational pleasures of 
life, transmit to our children a worthy example, andl 
leave for future ages, the glorious record that though 
we had not sought to conquer other nations, nor make 
conquests of other lands, we had learned to govern our- 
selves wisely and well, both as a body politic, and as 
individuals; and had discovered the art of more worth 
than any other— the art of eliminating happiness inde- 
pendent of riches. With these conditions established, 
the Republic will be true to itself, and the glorious des- 
tiny will be assured. With these requirements an- 



DURING THE WAR. <01 

svvered, Americans will create memorials more lasting 
than the Coliseum of Rome, or the Pyramids of Egypt, 
and establish a record for the highest civilization, for 
the noblest humanity that shall emblazon the pages of 
history, even when the proud works of man, that for 
centuries have caused the world to wonder shall have 
fallen and crumbled into dust. When the glory of 
Europe's proudest monarchies shall have paled in free- 
dom's holy light, the glory of America will live and 
brighten with the suns of centuries till its splendor shall 
illuminate the world! 




THOMAS G. LAWLER, Oommander-in-Oliief, G. A. R. 



DURING THE WAR. 401 



CHAPTER XXIX. 
The Grand Army of the Republic — Lieut. 
General J. M. Schofield, U. S. Army, — His 
Distinguished Military Record — Maj. Gen- 
eral Franz Sigel — The Nation's Honored 
Dead. 

The picture presented in former pages, has in the 
main been dark, terrible. The phantoms of Treason, 
of Murder, and other crimes that follow in their train, 
have flitted about the seething cauldron preparing the 
hell broth, at times seen by lurid light, amid the clouds 
of blackness and of horror. Loyal hearts have been 
saddened and sickened and made weary with deeds so 
horrible and fiendish, that apology for them, however 
faint, would be imbecility or treason — deeds that consti- 
tute diabolism, and which charity would fain regard as 
insanity and the fury of fanaticism. From such dark- 
ness and gloom, we turn with grateful heart, to a pic- 
ture of beauty, of glory; from beings who plotted only 
evil and sought by every means to execute the dark de- 
signs of their disordered brains and their depraved and 
corrupt souls, who would destroy our country, we turn 



*04 THE GREAT TREASON PLOT 

to scenes of brightness, where the actors are ruled by 
patriotism, humanity and valor, and impelled by the 
noblest, highest motives— to save to rescue and restore, 
to ennoble, to re-unite and so shed a halo of glory upon 
the land redeemed, so late reddened by the life blood of 
the brave. And with the grandeur and glory, prosper- 
ity and power, hope and hippiness won by their valor, 
and forever assured, we feel that the past has its lesson,' 
the present peace, plenty and the elements of true 
greatness, and the future its hope. 

OBJECTS AND WORK OF THE GRAND ARMY OF THE 
REPUBLIC. 

1. To preserve and strengthen those kind and 
fraternal feelings which bind together the soldiers, sail- 
ors and marines who united to suppress the late rebell- 
ion, and to perpetuate the memory and history of the 
dead. 

2. To assist such former comrades in arms as need 
help and protection, and to extend needful aid to the 
widows and orphans of those who have fallen. 

3. To maintain true allegiance to the United States 
of America, based upon a paramount respect for, and 
fidelity to its Constitution and Laws; to discountenance 
whatever tends to weaken loyalty, incites to insurrec- 
tion, treason or rebellion, or in any manner impairs the 
efficiency and permanency of our free institutions; and 
to encourage the spread of univer&al liberty, equal 
rights and justice to all men. 



DUR1NG,THE,WAR. 406 

SONS OF VETERANS. 

From the address of .Gen. J. B. Adams, Past-Com- 
mander-in-Chief G. A. R. we extract the following 
paragraphs in relation to the Sons of Veterans: 

" Upon assuming command of our Order, I began to 
look around for the best methods of strength. I saw 
that our Comrades were growing old and that the time 
was not far distant when all public exercises carried on 
by us must either be given up, or transferred to others. 
I saw this body of earnest young men organized to 
help us, yet not called, as in my opinion they should be, 
into active service. * * * During the year, I have 
met them everywhere, working to assist Departments 
and Posts, and believe in them we have an organiza- 
tion that will carry on our work when we lay it down. 
* * * I believe the Grand Army of the Republic 
should cease to exist, and live only in history, when the 
last comrade is mustered out, but our principles must 
live forever. 

To conscientiously obey the laws of the land, encour- 
age honesty and purity in public affairs, and to defend 
the flag of the nation, as the emblem of equal rights 
and national unit}^, is a work that any organization 
might be dedicated to; and to whom better can we 
leave this sacred trust than to our Sons? Many have 
heard the story of the war from their fathers, and many, 
alas, have no fathers to tell the story, but they can 
remember during those terrible days, how they knelt at 
their mother's knee and offered up their prayer for 
father, and that the news came that father would never 
return. From that hour they learned to love the Union 




MAJOR GENERAL FRANZ SIGEL. 



DURING THE WAK. 407 

for which their father fought; and this love should be 
organized, crystalized and encouraged in every possible 
way. God alone knows how soon the nation will 
require men to stand where we stood only thirty years 
ago. All indications point to the fact that we are 
drifting from the landmarks of our fathers. As never 
before, has this government of the people, by the 
people, and for the people been tested. The ballot 
box, and not the torch, must be the means used to 
right the wrongs of the American citizen. 

The Sons of Veterans are as loyal and true, as were 
their fathers, and should the country require their ser- 
vices they would respond as promptly to the call to 
arms. As our ranks grow thinner, let us urge them to 
strengthen theirs, so that this nation will ever have a 
reserve force of loyal men organized and officered as 
our Order has been, ready as are we to march in sup- 
port of the constituted authorities of the United States 
whenever the services of the volunteer are required. 

Since we broke ranks after the victory at Appomat- 
tox, and returned to the pursuits of civil life, the condi- 
tion of our country has changed. We have seen our 
population doubled. Our prosperity has brought to our 
shores large numbers of men who understand little of a 
government by the people. While we welcome all 
who intend to unite with us as American Citizens, up- 
hold our Constitution and obey the laws of our land, 
we have no room for those whose only desire is to 
destroy what has been secured by the blood and treas- 
ure of our people. The work of the Union soldiers and 
sailors did not end when the war closed — it only began. 



40S THE GREAT TREASON PLOT 

Organized as we are into Posts of the Grand Army of 
the Republic, we have kept the camp-fires of loyalty 
burning brightly all over our land. 

They must not be allowed to go out, or grow dim. 
" Remembering always that by eternal vigilance alone 
can National Liberty be maintained," we must con 
stantly be "on guard." 

While our age is such that we could perform little 
active service, we are still young enough to protect 
property and support the constituted authorities in en- 
forcing obedience to law. The past year has been one 
of anxiety. At one time the National Guards of five 
States of our Union were under arms, and the Regular 
Army called to service. I made no tender of service 
of our Order to the President of the United States, and 
issued no call to my comrades; yet my ear was to the 
ground, and my eye along the horizon. Plad the men 
on duty been unable to restore law and order, I should 
have called on the Grand Army of the Republic, and 
am confident that every comrade able to bear arms 
would have responded. 

We cannot too highly compliment the volunteer mili- 
tia for their prompt response to the call, and the faith- 
ful manner in which their duty was discharged. It tells 
us that i^atriotism is not dead in the hearts of the Amer- 
ican people, and that the young men of today are as 
loyal as were we. In every way possible should we 
encourage this spirit. Visit the armories of our National 
Guards, encourage the best class of young men to join 
their ranks, mvite them to our camp-fires and our 
Memorial Day services. Assure them that the soldiers 



DtJEINQ THE WAR. 409 

that were, are in full sympathy with the soldiers that 
are, and will support them in the discharge of their 
duties to the fullest extent. 

The Grand Army of the Republic was built on such 
a strong foundation that few changes in its construction 
are required. Our principles of Fraternity, Charity 
and Loyalty are known to a|l, and our fidelity to them 
for twenty-eight years has been such that we can take 
a just pride in our Order. * * * It is not the of- 
ficers alone that make the Grand Army so successful; it 
has been and is largely the work of the individual com- 
rades of the Posts —the men who never find the night 
too dark or the road too rough to prevent thein visiting 
a comrade in distress, who on local committees have 
worked day and night without compensation or hope of 
reward. It is this that has made our Order loved, hon- 
ored and respected by all loyal people. 

As our members grow less, may our love increase. 
Be true to the principles of the Order. Keep sacred 
the memory of our dead, stand loyally for the interests 
of the living, and above and beyond all, see to it that 
the flag we love so well, and followed so long, is not 
trailed in the dust; that the four hundred thousand of 
our comrades whose blood moistened the ground, and 
whose graves dot the surface of six hundred battle- 
fields, that lie on the hills and in the valleys and by the 
streams all over the South, may not have died in vain. 
Place the flag higher and higher, until its stars mingle 
with those in the heavens, and its stripes can be seen by 
all the world, tellmg that it is the emblem of equal 
rights and National unity, saved and made purer and 
brighter by the loyalty and devotion of its defenders." 



410 THE GEEAT TEEASON PLOT 

SIGNIFICANT FACTS RELATING TO THE GRAND 
ARMY. 

The following gleanings from the official report of 
the Inspector General G. A. R. (1894) here presented, 
are both significant and intensely interesting: 

There are in the Department of California and 
Nevada i 16 Posts consisting of 6,200 comrades. The 
department extends over a very large territory, includ- 
ing the State of Nevada, and one Post at Honolulu. 
Nearly all the comrades of the latter Post are in the 
Hawaiian Army. " We have a vState Soldiers' Home 
at Yountville, Napa county, with 500 inmates; also a 
branch of the National Soldiers' Home at Santa Mon- 
ica with about 1,200 inmates. There is a State law 
providing for indigent soldiers' and sailors' burials. 

Colorado and Wyoming— " This department em- 
braces a vast territory, it being fourteen hundred miles 
from Post 89, located at Cortez, Colo., to Post 62, at 
Sundance, Wyo. The other eighty Posts are scattered 
over this large expanse of country; many so remote 
from railroads that officers and members of Posts, as 
well as officials of the National and Department organ- 
izations, are unable to give personal encouragement or 
to partake of that inspiration that the touch of elbow— 
the whispered pass-word— the lining-up at three taps — 
and the personal contact always gives. The general 
business depression of the country has left its mark 
upon the department. Many soldiers, loyal and true, 
have been unable to pay their dues and have therefore 
been dropped from the rolls of the Posts. 

Florida — The Department is at a higher point of 





Past Department Commander, G. A. R., Department of Tennessee. 



412 THE GREAT TREASON PLOT 

prosperity than it has ever been. The same true spirit 
of loyalty to the Union and pur flag can be found 
throughout the Department to-day that led to final vic- 
tory and a re-united country in 1865. 

Idaho — In this Department, with its 16 Posts, the 
reports are cheering. " In the matter of the Soldiers' 
Home w^e have done well. Good and commodious 
grounds have ben secured and the Home located near 
Boise City, the foundation erected and the corner-stone 
laid with imposing ceremonies suited to the occasion; 
and bv October next we hope to have the work done, 
the building completed and ready for occupancy, not in 
name alone but in fact: a building that shall be a credit 
to the city whose people aided us so liberally in securing 
the grounds, and an honor to the State that has shown 
such high regard for the welfare of the veteran who 
taught the world that " Liberty must and shall be pre- 
served." 

Indiana — The total members of the Department 
(June 30, 1894) 23,338. " There are more old soldiers 
outside of the Grand Army of the Republic than inside." 
The " State Soldiers' and Sailors' Orphans' Home " is 
situated at Knightstown. It was organized by the sol- 
diers immediately after the war, by their own private 
contributions. It is now the pride of the lioosier State 
and the Hoosier soldier. Its affairs are conducted by 
intelligent, cultured and patriotic men and women. 
Some 600 wards of the Grand Army of the Repul)iic 
are here cared for and eilucated, and fitted for lives of 
usefulness and patriotism. 



DURING THE WAR. 413 

The " Soldiers' Monument " well shows that the 
208,367 Hoosiers who so nobly responded to the call of 
our war Governor, O. P. Morton, are not forgotten. 
Although the soldiers need no monument to perpetu- 
ate their virtues, yet the grateful people of tHis common- 
wealth have erected one of the most grand and beauti- 
ful shafts, as a tribute to their valor and heroism : to 
commemorate the sacrifices of those living, and the 
glory of the 24,416 who did not return — who died 
that the nation might live. This beautiful monument 
of stone and bronze and marble was only constructed 
after the leading artists of the world had submitted 
their designs, and the Legislature of the State had 
appropriated $200,000, which with funds on hand 
was equal to one dollar for every man who enlisted in 
the Grand Army, who have fought, bled and died for 
liberty. 

The shaft towers high above all surroundings at the 
center of the Capital City, Indianapolis, and is now 
nearing completion. Every living Hoosier soldier can 
look upon this beautiful column and say, " It is for me." 
And the father or mother, the brother or sister, the 
widow, son or daughter of our departed comrade, can 
look upon it and say, *'It is for him." Every Indiana 
Union Soldier, living or dead, is represented in that 
monument. 

Iowa — In this Department, which is in a flourishing 
condition, there are also 243 Corps with a membership 
of 8,394 ^^0^1^ women who have afforded the most 
material aid to the Department. The Soldiers' Home 
located at Marshalltown is a beautiful place with health- 



414 THE GREAT TREASON PLOT 

ful surroundings, a careful and efficient Commander, 
and equipped with nearl}' everything that a grateful 
State can furnish, will soon be an ideal Home, where 
the disabled veteran may wait for last " Taps " to 
sound. Everything has promise of reaching perfection 
in the near future. 

The cottages are a pleasant and satisfactory depart- 
ment of the institution, as under this cottage system the 
aged veteran may bring his equally aged wife; and 
there, surrounded by the comforts of a family home, 
they may end their days together. 

The soldier's widow in Iowa has not been forgotten. 
Our Legislature appropriated $8,000 for the purpose 
of building a dormitory for the widows of veterans; 
and very soon they too may exchange the cold comfort 
of a destitute house or a county poor-farm for the 
kindly care and protection of a grateful State." 

Massachusetts — " It is with a feeling of just pride 
that I can officially state the Order was never in better 
condition financially, never more enthusiasm in the 
morale and spirit that warms the hearts of all the com- 
rades of the two hundred and ten Posts of this depart- 
ment, than at the present moment; and as we are 
gradually nearing our last camping ground, the touch of 
elbow is a little nearer and closer than in years past, 
simply showing we appreciate each other more and 
more, and are dependent upon one another to a greater 
extent, than when our beloved Order was at its high- 
water mark in numbers. 

Our membership in good standing June 30, 1894, was 
23,464. 



DURING THE WAR. 415 

Our INIassachusetts Soldiers' Home is giving a com- 
fortable asylum to many worthy, worn-out veterans, 
who as they listen to roll call for the last time, will die 
blessing the Home and its humane and kind administra- 
tion. 

Michigan — The building — Woman's Annex to Sol- 
diers' Home — is a reality. Through the efforts of a 
joint committee of the Grand iVrmy of the Republic 
and Woman's Relief Corps, an appropriation of $15,- 
000 was secured from the Legislature; and on Jan. 3, 
1S94, there was dedicated upon the grounds of the 
Soldiers' Home at Grand Rapids, a beautiful building 
known as the Woman's Annex. In addition to the 
appropriation by the State, many Posts and Woman's 
Relief Corps, with private individuals, contributed gen- 
erously ; and each room is completely furnished by some 
of these contributors and known by the name of such. 
The rules governing the Annex are made by the gov- 
erning power of the Soldiers' Home. Applicants to 
the Annex are recommended by a committee of the 
Woman's Relief Corps, appointed by that body. The 
occupants of the building at the present time are four- 
teen in number, several of them over sixty-five years of 
age. This beginning of a work inaugurated by Past 
Department President, Mrs. S. L. Brown of Ithaca, 
has been crowned with success. The veterans of Mich- 
igan are proud of the Home and the Woman's Annex, 
monuments to a patriotic love for Union Soldiers, their 
wives or widows who in advancing age are needing as- 
sistance. 

Minnesota— The Minnesota Soldiers' Home con- 



416 THE GREAT TEEASON PLOT 

tiiiues to be the pride of the State. The vState has con- 
tinued its humane poHcy of very hheral appropriations 
for its support. There is also a ReHef Fund provided, 
over and beyond tlie support of the Home. During the 
past year, $40,000 was thus distributed. There were, 
for the year, three hundred inmates in the Home; and 
of that number, twenty-four died during the year. The 
average length of military service of the soldiers who 
enjoy this hospitality was twenty-nine and a half months. 
The buildings, hospital, and all the equipments of the 
Home, are in first-class condition. This institution will 
pass into history as one of the State's greatest benefac- 
tions. 

Missouri — In this department there are 435 Posts, 
with a membership of 18,611. The Woman's Relief 
Corps have taken preliminaries for building a Soldiers' 
Home in the State for old soldiers, their wives and 
nurses. 

Montana — The Inspector-General, in speaking of 
this Department, says: "On the whole, I think the 
Department of Montana should be proud of her record. 
It has been difficult to hold our own. The stringency 
of money matters under an administration over which- 
seemingly -J^rovidefzce has no cofitrol^ has made it very 
hard to keep up the finances of the Posts. Yet we 
have some as loyal and patriotic men and officers as 
ever wore the "Blue." We begin to realize that ere 
long the Sons of Veterans and Ladies' Aid Society to 
the Sons of Veterans will be the only organizations left 
to perpetuate the memory of the " Boys in Blue." 
Our belief is beautifully expressed in the language of 
the poet, when he said, — 



DURING THE WAR. 417 

" But though the veterans vanish, their children still remain, 

The deeds of their fathers to cherish; 
And the cause for which we battled, our children will maintain. 

And the foes of our banner shall perish. 
For we battled not in vain if still that banner waves. 

Through ages our Nation adorning. 
And loyal hands shall plant it 'mid the flowers upon our graves, 

Till the great reveille in the morning." 

Pennsylvania — The Pennsylvania Soldiers' and 
Sailors' Home at Erie is now occupied by the full quota 
of inmates allov^ed by the laws of the State, the num- 
ber being limited to 400. It is under the admirable 
management of Past Dept. Com. W. W. Tyson, who 
recently enjoyed the high distinction of receiving a 
medal of honor from the World's Fair Commission of 
Chicago, commending the Board of Trustees for the 
best-conducted home of the many in the country. This 
Board, of which the Governor of the Commonwealth is 
President, is composed of eleven members, ten of whom 
are active comrades of this Department. 

The Soldiers' Orphans' Schools of this State, which 
have been in successful operation for some years, mainly 
through the efforts of the comrades of the Grand Army, 
are about to undergo a change in the introduction of 
the Industrial School feature in connection with the 
system now in vogue. The new departure, which will 
be known as the Pennsylvania Soldiers' Orphans' In- 
dustrial School, will be located at Scotland, Franklin 
County, Pennsylvania. The State having appropriated 
$150,000 toward the project, and the buildings being in 
course of erection, it is hoped they will be entirely com- 
pleted prior to the close of the year. 



418 THE GREAT TREASON PLOT 

Those children now occupying the schools in opera- 
tion and located at Hartford, Susquehanna County, 
Chester Springs, Chester County, and Uniontown, 
Fayette County, will be graduated from them at the 
age of fourteen years, and admitted for a term of not 
less than five years at the Industrial School, the Com- 
mission in charge having the power to close the three 
schools above mentioned upon the completion of the 
Industrial School, (^ at their discretion continue them 
for the space of two years. It is more than probable 
that these schools, which have been the pride and glory 
of the old soldiers, and which have been of such incal- 
culable benefit in providing for the tuition and care of 
the children of our deceased comrades, will continue 
to the full limit of the time allowed, inasmuch as nine 
of the eleven members of the Commission are comrades 
of the Grand Army. 

The report of the Assistant Adjutant- General of this 
State for the year ending December 31, 1S93, shows 
the muster-in of six Posts and the disbandment of one. 
Those now in good standing reach the grand total of 
621 Posts, with a total membership of 43,724. The 
gain in membership during the year was but slight, 
being only seventy-nine, due in a great measure to the 
largely increasing death roll, which numbered S46 
members. 

Potomac — Owing to the policy of retrenchment, 
inaugurated by the present administration, much suf- 
fering has been imposed upon our comrades of this 
Department, many of whom were government employes; 
and the loss of employment has entailed a great amount 



DURING THE WAR. 419 

of labor upon the officers of the Department, notably 
upon the Senior Vice Department Commander, who, 
by virtue of his office, is the chairman of the employ- 
ment committee. Anticipating this state of affairs, a 
committee was appointed to call upon the chief execu- 
tive, appealing to him to spare the old veterans from 
dismissal; and promises were made that they should be 
protected. Notwithstanding those promises, scores of 
our comrades are today left without means of support 
and have but little prospect for the future. This state 
of affairs has made its imprint upon Grand Army affairs 
in this Department and has caused serious embarrass- 
ment to the department officers. Its effect is also visi- 
ble at the Post meetings, the attendance being smaller, 
and much of the old enthusiasm being found wanting. 

Rhode Island — On the shore of the beautiful and 
historic Narragansett Bay, in the town of Bristol, R. I., 
stands the Soldiers' and Sailors' Home for disabled 
Volunteer Union soldiers and sailors. The temperate, 
equable and health-giving climatic conditions, the beau- 
tiful land and water scenery, are unsurpassed. 

During the year of 1893 a Hospital was built at a cost 
of $13, 000. The building is of wood, conforming in 
general appearance to those built in 189 1. It contains 
ten wards, having a capacity of ten beds each, six small 
rooms for a bed each, reception rooms, Surgeon's office, 
dining room, bath rooms, etc. 

The membership of the Home Dec. 31, 1S93, was 
120. Total number admitted since the Home was 
opened in the Spring of 1891, 220. 



420 THE GREAT T EA.SON PLOT 

The last Legislature appropriated $22,000 for the 
support of the Home, and $13,000 for the Soldiers' 
Relief Fund. The State of Rhode Island, through its 
legislatures, has appropriated during the past six years 
for the support and care of its veterans, their families, 
and other matters appertaining to the interests of the 
veterans in the State, the sum of $371,427.62. 

Texas — " Our Ninth Annual Encampment, held at 
Dublin, Texas, in April, in response to the earnest invi- 
tation of the Erath and Comanche Ex-Confederate 
Association, of which Gen. J. T. Harris was the Com- 
mander, was the best attended and in every way the 
most successful ever held in this State. The Ex-Con- 
federates gave us a very hearty welcome, and, together 
with the citizens of Dublin, did all in their power to 
make our meeting a grand success. The Woman's 
Relief Corps Convention was also quite largely attended 
and was a success, their deliberations being marked by 
harmony and earnestness. The local Camp of Sons of 
Veterans, a fine-looking body of young men, were also 
in line on parade. The most interesting and touching 
feature of the parade was the 250 or 300 old "Johnnies," 
clad in as many hued and styles of dress as ever they 
wore in " war times," and the 1,000 school children, all 
drawn up in line as the boys in bright blue uniforms 
marched down the street to the tune of Dixie. Hun- 
dreds of flags waved and cheer upon cheer rent the air 
as the " Boys in Blue " marched passed these old griz- 
zled ex-Confederates and lovely school children. It was 
here that the " United American Veteran " Association 
was formed, and about 250 " Yanks " and " Rebs " 



DURING THE WAR. 421 

enrolled themselves side by side as members of the new 
order." 

Vermont. — " The Vermont Soldiers' Home at Ben- 
nington was incorporated in 18S4, and is under the 
management of a board of eighteen trustees, fifteen of 
whom are members of the Grand Army of the Repub- 
lic. Owing to lack of funds the Home was not estab- 
lished and opened for inmates until May, 18S7, since 
which time it has cared for two hundred and fifty 
soldiers. 

The buildings stand in the center of a large tract; in 
front is the highest fountain in the world, and also two 
beautiful groves. The sleeping rooms are neat, com- 
fortable, well ventilated and furnished, each room hav- 
ing two beds and being occupied by two comrades. 
Many of the rooms have been furnished by G. A. R. 
Posts and Woman's Relief Corps. A neat and well 
arranged hospital was erected two years ago; but the 
number of chronic diseases has so increased that the 
trustees have added a wing the present season. The 
water supply is excellent and very ample, the sanitary 
conditions good, no case of any malarial character hav- 
ing ever occurred since it opened. 

A beautiful chapel, costing with furnishings $3,000, 
has been erected by voluntary contributions of G. A. R. 
Posts, Woman's Relief Corps and individuals, without 
any state or government aid; the only building of the 
kind so erected, so far as we know, in the United States. 

Virginia and North Carolina.— " The high- 
water mark'' of the Grand Army of the Republic in 
this Department has no doubt been reached. A few 



22 THE GREAT TREASON PLOT 

years more and our long and unequal struggle will have 
ended, and the end naay come before our final " muster- 
out;" for in no section of the Union has the existence of 
the Grand Army of the Republic been threatened to 
the extent it has here. 

The Department Commander of Kansas, in his intro- 
ductory address, gave utterance to an important truth in 
the following forcible language: 

" The Grgnd Army, as a social, moral and political 
force, is bigger than any political party. It has a plat- 
form broad enough to afford standing room for every 
true soldier of the Union. Every worthy comrade of 
the war residing within this department, and who is so 
situated that he can attend at least one post meeting 
during the year, should be brought within our ranks." 

To those comrades of the war who are not in our 
ranks, he says: "You are welcome without regard to 
your political failh or afliliation, if that love of country 
which led you to offer your lives for its preservation 
still burns in your breast." When we bravely charged 
upon the sunken roadway and stone wall at Fredericks- 
burg; over a field raked as with a fine comb by cannon 
shot and shell from right, front and left, and by 
musketry from our hidden foe four lines deep; or scaled 
with Sheridan, under the eyes of Grant and Thomas, 
the heights of Missionary Ridge, we did not ask our com- 
rades what they thought of the tariff — we stood shoulder 
to shoulder as comrades. We are and must be com- 
rades still. Let us stand together now as we did then, 
and side step to the center, closing all vacant files, thus 
presenting to the country a solid front, which no party 
or faction dare ignore or conspire against." 




N. ROLLINS, 
?ast Department Commaader, Department of Colorado and Wyoming, G. A. R. 



424 



THE OREA.T TREASON PLOT 



TOTAL STRENGTH OF THE UXION ARMY, NUMBER 

OF MEN FROM EACH STATE FROM APRIL Is 

1 86 1, TO JUNE ;:?o, iS6 



:)^ 



Maine 69,738 

New Hampshire 33,913 

Vermont 33,272 

Massachusetts 146,467 

Rhode Island 23,248 

Connecticut 55,755 

New York 445,959 

New Jersey 75,3^5 

Pennsylvania 338, 155 

Delaware 12,265 

Maryland 46,053 

West Virginia 32,003 

District of Columbia.. 16,534 

Ohio 310,654 

Indiana 194,363 

Illinois 258,162 

Michigan. 88, iii 

Wisconsin 91,021 

Minnesota 24,002 

Iowa 75,793 



':) 



Missouri 108,773 

Kentucky 75.275 

Kansas 20,095 

Tennessee 31,092 

Arkansas 8,289 

North Carolina 3,156 

California ^5,725 

Nevada 1,080 

Oregon 1,810 

Washington Ter 964 

Nebraska 3,i57 

Colorado Ter 4,903 

Dakota Ter 206 

New Mexico Ter 6,561 

Alabama 2,576 

Florida 1,290 

Louisiana 5,224 

Mississippi 545 

Texas 1,965 

Indian . Nations 3, 530 



Total 2,666,999. 

Total Union Loss in the War 359,496. 

Since the inauguration of Memorial Day, more than 
half of those then living have died. " Like a swift 
running river they are passing away; like decaying stars 
in the morning twilight, they are faded and gone; but 
the holy light of memory keeps them visible in our 
hearts, and in Heaven their faces grow brighter, as with 
curious interest they watch our proceedings here We 
are ever tied to them by the unfading glories of the 
past." 



DURING THE WAR. 426 

Department Commander, S. B. Daboll, in his Memor- 
ial Day General Order, sa3's: 

" The spring buds and the opening flowers remind us 
that Memorial Day is at hand. Thoughts of departed 
comrades, the ties that bound us to them and still holds 
them in our memories, come thronging over us; the 
veil at times grows thin and it almost seems that they 
are still with us, touching elbows along the battle line 
or sitting by us at the camp fire or in the post room. 

Let us on Memorial Day realize all that this means, 
and make the ceremonies as sacred as these memories. 
Gather at their graves with the flowers of springtime." 

"Beautiful gems of the beautiful spring. 
Beautiful flowers are the tribute we bring, 
Jeweled w4th tears as an offering. 
Tenderly Jay them, their fragrance to shed, 
Mingling their perfume with benisonsshed 
Over the graves of our patriot dead." 

THE NINETEENTH OF SEPTEMBER. 

The dedication of the Chickamauga National Mil- 
itary Park, September 19, 1895, revives memories 
of that fatal day in the history of the war. " In 
the latter part of June, Rosecrans succeeded in crowd- 
ing General Bragg out of Tennessee. The Union 
general followed and took post at Chattanooga, on 
the left bank of the Tennessee. During the summer 
Bragg was re-inforced by the corps of Johnston and 
Longstreet. On the nineteenth of September, he 
turned upon the Federals at Chickamauga Creek, in the 
north-west angle of Georgia. A hard battle was 
fought, but night came with the victory undecided, (^n 



426 THE GREAT TREASON PLOT 

the following morning the fight was renewed. After 
the conflict had continued for some hours, the national 
battle-line was opened by a mistake of Gen. Wood. 
Bragg thrust forward a heavy column into the gap, cut 
the Union army in two, and drove the right wing into 
a rout. 

Gen. Thomas, with desperate firmness, held the left 
until nightfall, and then withdrew into Chattanooga. 
The Union loss amounted to nearly nineteen thousand, 
and that of the Confederates was even greater. 

Gen. Bragg pressed forward to besiege Chattanooga; 
but Gen. Hooker arrived with two corps from the 
Army of the Potomac, opened the Tennessee River and 
brought relief. At the same time Gen. Grant assumed 
the direction of affairs at Chattanooga. Gen. Sherman 
arrived with his division, and offensive operations were 
at once renewed. On the 24th of November, Look- 
out Mountain, overlooking the town and river, was 
stormed by the division of Gen. Hooker. On the fol- 
lowing day Missionary Ridge was also carried, and 
Bragg's army fell back in full retreat toward Ringgold. 
On the 1st of September, Gen. Burnside arrived with 
his command at Knoxvllle. After the battle of Chick- 
amauga, Gen. Longstreet was sent into East Tennessee, 
where he arrived and began the siege of Knoxville. 
On the 39th of November the Confederates attempted 
to carry the town by storm, but were repulsed with 
heavy losses. Gen. Sherman soon marched to the 
relief of Burnside, and Longstreet retreated into Virginia^ 



4 ,^^ 




w 



EMMA R. WALLACE,' 
National President Woman's Relief Corps. 



428 THE .GEE AT TREASON PLOT 

"One by one we muster heavenward; one by one our tents we 
fold; 

Year by year our ranks are thinning, soon the number will be 
told; 

Twilight shadows soon will deepen; guard be mounted, taps 

be beat! 
Ivist! from dreamland comes a signal. 'Tis from those we there 

shall greet. 
Reunited in a kingdom where no sounds of war are heard, 
We shall rest in peace eternal, this is our Great Captain's 

word." 



"Thus star b}' star declines, 

Till all are passed away. 

As morning high and higher shines 

To pure and perfect day. 

Nor sink those stars in empty night, 

But hide themselves in heaven's own light." 

Every citizen of this republic is indebted in some way 
and in some measure to this glorious organization. It 
is delightful to explain its aims and purposes, the char- 
ity and patriotism embodied in its principles, which find 
happy and fruitful expression in the sympathetic work 
of the Order, in relieving the widows and children of 
our fallen comrades, and those of our comrades around 
us, as well as the beautiful and touching burial of our 
heroic dead. The great public gatherings of the Grand 
Army have a tendency to recall afresh the pleasantries 
of camp-life to the recollection of old and venerable 
comrades, to remind the living the cost of the late war 
in men and treasure; the sacrifice made to save our 
matchless republic; to impress upon our youth venera- 
tion for the aged veteran and to teach them to cherish 
undying love for our national emblem, our benign 



DURING THE WAR. 429 

institutions and our chosen and revered form of Gov- 
ernment. 



Appomattox. The very name recalls not only to 
veterans, but even to every school child in this broad 
Republic, that at Appomattox transpired an incident 
that marked an epoch in the history of the w^orld, that 
will live even when Rome is forgotten. Then and 
there it was that the incomparable Grant, in accepting 
the surrender of his gallant adversary Lee, directed that 
the enemy should keep their horses and mules, because 
they would need them in making their crops. From 
Appomattox sprang the act of magnanimity extended 
to a conquered host, a reaching out of hands, a measure 
of brotherly love, that astonished the nations of the 
world, but which has resulted in re-uniting our people; 
which occasioned the warm grasp of the hand and 
placed the opposing factions in line of march to a com- 
mon prosperity. All hail the day! 

woman's relief corps auxiliary to the grand 
army of the republic. 

There is no association of women that more clearly 
sets forth the value of organized and systematized work 
among women than the Woman's Relief Corps, Auxil- 
iary to the Grand Army of the Republic. Eleven years 
and a half ago it entered upon its national existence 
with a few hundred members. It closed its tenth year, 
with 140,000 members in good and regular standing, 
which means an annual paid up membership of one 
dollar each. 

In those ten years it raised and expended over a mil- 



4S0 THE GKEAT TREASON PLOT 

lion and fifteen thousand dollars in cash for the benefit 
of unfortunate soldiers and their families or the widows 
and orphans of those deceased, has founded schools, 
homes, and hospitals, or secured important legislation 
to this end; has led the van in the march of patriotic 
teaching in our public schools, and now receives the 
plaudits of a nation, expressed publicly through many 
of its official heads. State and National. 

REMINISCENCES. 
Hymns of happy hearts now swell to Heaven, where 
once was heard the sound of shrieking shell, and deafen- 
ing roar, and rattle, of the dread enginery of war. 



How vivid to many of our readers is the memory of 
the scenes of rejoicing when the war closed ! The 
shouts of victory, the poeans of joy and thanksgiving 
from a nation of freed men — the heartfelt welcome home 
of the " Boys in Blue " — the heroes who had braved 
countless perils in their Country's service, all form 
bright pictures in Memory's gallery. 

Equally memorable — never to be forgotten, is the 
fate of those who returned not with their comrades — 
fathers, sons and brothers, who bravely fell upon the 
field of battle. For them have fallen tears as plentiful 
as the grass-blades and the flowerets woven in the ver- 
dant mantle over them ! 

All honor to the patriots brave 
Who fought our holy cause to gain — 
Our Country's honored flag to save! 
No craven thought of self had they — 
No fear of death, nor dread of pain; 



% 



/' 




SARAH C. MINK. 
Past National President Woman's Relief Corps. 



432 THE GREAT TREASON PLOT 

With victory won and duty done, 

To home, "Sweet home," they'd turn again. 

Through winter's cold, or summer's sultry day, 

O'er mountain, river, marsh and plain — 

Where'er the path of duty lay — 

All weary, battle scarred and worn. 

They marched in solid columns on. 

'Mid shot and shell and leaden rain, 

They fell — with hearts so true— 

The valiant "Boys in Blue" 

Who ne'er came home again! 

And what though force might equal force — 
Brave men by thousands fall and die — 
Their country calls, they heed her voice, 
And loyal hearts repeat the cry: 
''O'er all, shall Freedom's banner wave!" 
Battalions dead might strew the plain — 
Whole armies fill a common grave, 
And loving hearts might wait in vain; 
Thrice welcome death or victory then! 
Our flag was there — its stars were bright; 
Triumphal arms flashed in their light; 
And Heaven blest those noble men 
Who fought for freedom and the right! 
Our country's banner by Heaven blest 
Waves o'er North and South, East and West! 
Henceforth it is no idle boast — 
From shores of Maine to western coast — 
From line of march of Sherman to the sea. 
O'er all the land, the old flag proudly waves 
And 'neath its starry folds, all men are free! 



Thousands who shared in the perils and fortunes of the 
war, who returned to the endearments of home, have 
since passed from earth — brave commanders and equally 



DURING THE WAR. 433 

brave soldiers from the ranks; and with every passing 
year, a still greater number than of the years p'receding 
have gone " to that bourne from whence no traveler re- 
turns" — to wake no more to sound of reveille, to bugle 
blast, or thunders of artillery; so do the sacred mounds 
of our nation's loved and honored dead multiply, and 
so will they continue to increase till the Grand Army 
shall have passed to the silent encampment in the 
valley. 

Of the hundreds of thousands of patriots who per- 
ished that the nation might live, to each name there is 
clinging a glorious history — of toil, of self-sacrifice, of 
endurance, of patience and long-suffering, of courage 
and devotion to their country, and at a time when 
every fabric of this nation was quivering, strained to its 
utmost tension, to secure for the people of the period, 
and for the generations of the future, a country re- 
deemed, and those rights and conditions which give the 
highest develojDment attainable by man. Let the peo- 
ple of this generation remember that while the war of 
the Revolution gave our nation birth, through the sec- 
ond baptism of fire and sword the nation achieved im- 
mortality. Let it also be remembered that had the 
Union cause failed, her light would have gone out in 
darkness, and with it the aspirations, the dearest rights 
of the thirty millions of people! Had there been fail- 
ure by the Union armies, the dread horrors of a ruined 
and distracted nation would have ensued; a nation would 
have disappeared as a fallen star, while despots would 
have rejoiced for the overthrow of the Government and 
downfall of American liberty. But the country pre- 



434 THE GREAT TREASON PLOT 

served by the patriotism of her people will live, graining 
greater glory and luster as the years, the decades and 
the centuries roll by, its splendor shall illuminate the 
world! Her stars shall ne'er be dimmed, her glory 
never die. 

The heroes who made an offering to old Neptune of 
a cargo of tea in the harbor of Boston, who upheld the 
nation's honor in 1812, who preserved the unity of the 
country when fratricidal hands were raised for its dis- 
memberment dnd destruction, are one and the same. 
Though a grateful people may hallow their fame, plant 
acacias to mark their mounds, and strew them with the 
choicest flowers of Spring, the qualities and virtues that 
distinguished the heroes live, and will live so long as 
America shall be loyal to freedom! 

As great as is my admiration of the genius, the 
wisdom, tact and skill of the great majority of the 
Union commanders, equally great is my admiration of 
the patriotism and heroism of the private soldier. It is 
a notable fact that from the ranks of the Union army it 
was never difficult to find the qualifications and inher- 
ent qualities requisite for any office from Corporal to 
General — a peculiarity not to be found in so eminent a 
degree in the army of any other nation. 

From 1 86 1 to the close of 1862, how adverse to the 
Union cause, how disheartening the outlook of the 
contest, merely estimating the results iichieved by our 
armies in the field, but there shone with sublimity 
seldom paralleled in the history of the world, the 
people's faith in the final triumph of the right. That 
faith was the fruit of patriotism and of religious enthu- 



DURING THE WAR. 436 

siasm and zeal. It was the living faith that led the 
heroes of the war of the Revolution to battle success- 
fully against superior forces, and under the most adverse 
and trying circumstances to march to victory. It was 
the living faith of the Puritan fathers. They beheld 
the pillar of fire and heard the voice of the Almighty 
guiding them to victory. It was faith ingrained in the 
hearts of the people by inheritance, and taught them 
from infancy to manhood, in their homes, even as the 
Spartans taught their sons valor — " Return with your 
vShield, or upon your Shield " was the injunction of the 
Spartan mother, as she bade her son go forth in response 
to the call of country. So were our soldiers taught, so 
went they forth before they received the sterner train- 
ing of the camp and field. 

And it was later, the living faith planted and cher- 
ished by the all-wise God, that led to the final and most 
brilliant victory ever achieved by human hands and 
hearts and intellects, greater than the most glorious 
triumphs of the battle field — the grandest of victories, 
yet bloodless, of uniting the people of all the States, in 
cordial, sincere and true friendship, of entire harmony 
and devotion to principles which secure glory, honor 
prosperity and happiness to the nation — not of one sec- 
tion or another only, but throughout the land, over 
which the old flag waves. 

How is memory's gallery stored with glowing pic- 
tures of the period of the war! The blackness of Ere- 
bus — the plottings of Conspirators — will by contrast 
serve to intensify the brilliancy and vividness of the heart 
pictures to which, in retros^DCct, with pride and joy w^ 
turn. 



436 THE GREAT TREASON PLOT 

O the popular awakening in the early din of warfare 
— the popular realization of the great exigency and duty 
of the hour to every citizen! The Country was ablaze 
with patriotism; groups, small and great, assembled 
upon the street corners, in homes, in halls, in churches, 
in postoffices and market places everywhere, and how 
animated the scene — the flashing of glances, the empha- 
sis of language, the gesticulation and handshaking, and 
soon the " Boys in Blue" were marching — the pride, 
the flower and glory of the North marched away to the 
music of the Union! Hundreds of thousands responded 
to the call of " Father Abraham," and marched to the 
front. The good mothers, sisters and sweethearts, all 
turned out and sent their blessings after the disappear- 
ing column, till the sound of the " tramp, tramp," and 
the music had died away, and then the loved and loving 
ones in secret grief gave way to their overcharged 
hearts. 

And there were whole companies of gray beards who 
marched also to the front, men who had tried to dis_ 
count a few of their years that they might not be re- 
jected for their age, and there was many a brave youth 
just entering upon his teens, who evinced his love for the 
old flag, and later fought under it with all the heroism 
and valor of veterans. So thousands and hundreds of 
thousands responded to the Country's call, and marched 
to the front with as much alacrity and readiness as if out 
for a picnic, or for encampment in time of peace. 

In recruiting, there was no need to appeal to any 
selfish consideration, for the " Boys" would have gone 
even if they had been required to pay their own 



DURING THE WAR. 437 

expenses, and if they had had anything left over, they 
would have given the excess to Uncle Sam to have 
helped the cause along! 

In Memory's gallery there is another grand, sublime 
and lovely picture, to which we turn with eminent 
satisfaction and pride. It is woman's patriotic and 
humane work during the mighty conflict. When 
" grim visaged war " stalked forth in the land, and fol- 
lowing came his train of ghastly horrors, devastating 
and filling it with grief, the sound of strife and woe 
was the signal for woman to go forth as an angel of 
mercy, to scenes of blood and carnage, in defiance of 
peril, and at the sacrifice of all considerations of self, 
devoted only to God, her country, and humanity — going 
forth to bind the wounds, and with benedictions of 
tender mercy, to pour the balm of heavenly peace into 
hearts that ebbed away their life-blood for our imperil- 
led country. 

What a volume of reverence, of honor, esteem, grati- 
tude, does this heart picture awaken, for the " Soldiers' 
Aid Societies," the "Woman's Relief Corps," and 
other active and efficient coadjutors and allies of our 
armies — What hallowed memories have we for the 
noble hearts, the liberal hands, the glowing patriotism, 
the busy fingers, the tenderness and sympathy with suf- 
fering! Where and when the end of such labors! They 
ceased not with the w^ar, nor to the present hour, nor 
will they end with the life of the last veteran of the 
Grand Army! They will go down the ages as a 
brilliant, glowing page of our National history, and 
those who shall read, will bless the memory of the 
noble women of that eventful period. The labors of 



43« THE GREAT TREASON PLOT 

these benefactors of humanity will not be limited to 
time, but will live on and on forever, for good words or 
good deeds do not, cannot die. 

It is an honor, the proudest iionor a man can possess, 
to be able to say that he followed the old flag, that he 
tendered his life that the nation might live. 

The Government cannot afford to violate, directly nor 
indirectly, any promise that it has made to men who 
have sustained it; the nation that would have brave de- 
fenders in the future, must deal justly with its defenders 
of the past! Historians will record with proud satisfaction 
— their records will go down the ages — that differ as the 
people might have done upon the party issues of the 
dav, the call to arms brought to the field men of all 
parties, who, in the great vital issue of the hour, were 
united. Shoulder to shoulder they marched to battle, 
and to victory. Patriotism, not partisanship, was the 
ruling thought and motive, and to all defenders of the 
Union, all honor and gratitude is due; for by them it has 
been demonstrated that the whole is greater than a part, 
and to the country, first of all, the citizen owes fealty. 

And while ever mindful and true to the claims of hu- 
manity — with hearts large enough and sympathies gen- 
erous enough to extend to all the world, let us rejoice 
in the greatness and glory of our country, and may the 
old flag ever awaken in our hearts enthusiasm and de- 
light, pride and patriotism, as the symbol of freedom, of 
protection, of progress and of excellence — our banner 
with its glorious constellation and its rainbow tints of 
beauty, broad enough to canop}^ a continent and a 
pledge of the nation's power for the protection of all 
over whom in its glory and majesty it waves. 



DURING THE WAR. 439 

FULL RECOGNITION OF COL AYER'S SERVICES. 

The distinguished services of Col. Ayer are fully 
recognized by the unanimous vote of the City Council 
of Chicago, Ills., [March 5, 1S90] and by testimony of 
Gov. Yates, of Illinois; Gov. Morton, of Indiana; Brig. 
Gen. H. E. Paine; Gen. H. L. Burnett, Judge Advo- 
cate of the Military Commission in the trial of the assas- 
sins of President Lincoln, etc.; Col. B. J. Sweet, Com- 
mandant of Camp Douglas; Post Adj. Shurly, Col. L. 
L. Wilson, Hon. W. H. Rand, (Rand, McNally & 
Co., publishers) and the most essential facts of this 
w^ork are corroborated by sworn evidence of Gen. 
Burnside, Gen. Carrington, Judge Advocate General 
Holt, Col. Sanderson, Provost Marshal-General of the 
Department of Missouri; Maj. Gen. Rosecrans, Maj. 
Gen. Hovey, Maj. Gen. Burbridge, Senators in Con- 
gress, and many of the most eminent men of the nation. 



from brig. gen. h. e. paine. 

Headquarters District of Ills., ) 
Springfield, Ills., Aug. 27, 1864. f 

Col. B.J. Sweet, Commanding Camp Douglas, 

Dear vSir: Be kind enough to express to I. Winslow 
Ayer my sincere thanks for his reports. The composi- 
tion certainly indicates talents of a high order. I have 
written to Department headquarters on his behalf, 
and if his services afford a tangible basis of recommen- 
dation at all commensurate with present promise, I shall 
urge him at Washington for a Staff Commission. 
Very truly your obedient servant, 
H. E. Paine, Brig. Gen. Commandmg. 



440 THE GREAT TREASON PLOT 

Later Gen. Paine gave evidence in Congress in sup- 
port of a bill in favor of Col. Ayer, introduced into the 
House by the late Hon. J. Logan Chipman, M. C, and 
in the U. S. Senate by Hon. J. McMillen, U. S. S. 
"I believe that the rescue of the thirteen thousand pris- 
oners in Camp Douglas, and the pillage of Chicago was 
prevented, and the seizure of large quantities of con- 
cealed arms and ammunition, and the punishment of the 
convicted Conspirators v^ere secured by reason of the 
timely information furnished by Dr. I. Winslow Ayer. 
I observed his course vs^ith hearty approval. The suc- 
cess of Dr. Ayer was cojjiplefe and ivith my personal 
knozvledge of his services, I find it difficult to overesti- 
mate their value and importance to the Government. 

[seal] H. E. Paine, Brig. Gen. Commanding. 

FROM COL. B. J. SWEET. 

Post Camp Douglas, Chicago, 111. 
I. Winslow Ayer, Dear Doctor: — I have been and 
am ill. Gen. Hooker, Gen. Paine, Gov. Yates, Lieut. 
Jenkins, and my letters to the Secretary of War, all 
will stand to tell how handsomely you have served the 
Government, if I die. Time at last makes all things 
even. Don't think 1 forget you or your admirable ser- 
vices. Ever yours, 

B.J. SwEET, Col. Commanding. 



FROM POST ADJUTANT SHURLY. 

E. R. P. Shurly, late A. A. G., Camp Douglas, tes- 
tified that "About November i, 1864, we held as pris- 
oners of war, including Morgan's command, about 13000 
men; that the garrison consisted of about 500 officers 



DURING THE WAR. 441 

and men — a number wholly inadequate to safely guard 
the prisoners, and repel an attack from an armed enemy 
from the outside; that the garrison could not be used to 
protect the city of Chicago in the event of an attack by 
an armed enemy; that he often saw I. Winslow Ayer 
at the Camp, and was aware that he was acting in the 
interest of the Government, and his reports were of 
great importance and value to the Union cause; had 
frequently heard Col. Sweet speak of the important 
service rendered the Government by said Ayer, and com- 
mend his courage and intelligence; that he believes the 
course taken by him caused him very heavy pecuniary 
loss; that he (Shurl}^) knew of the arrest of many per- 
sons on the night of November 6, 1S64, for conspiring 
against the Government, to release the prisoners of war 
and destroy Chicago; that he issued orders for the seiz- 
ure of arms stored adjacent to Camp Douglas; that 
large numbers of muskets, pistols, carbines, guns, with 
an immense quantity of ammunition, was captured." 

E. R. P. Shurly, 
Late A. A. G., Camp Douglas, Brev't Captain and 
ist Lieut., U. S. A. 



from his excellency, hon. richard yates, gov- 
ernor of illinois. 

Jacksonville, III., May 20, 1865. 
Col. I. Winslow Ayer, Dear Sir: — 

It affords me great gratification to know of the suc- 
cessful completion of your perilous and most difficult 
undertaking. It was a most responsible trust, the faith- 
ful execution of which might imperil life, and had the 
work been confided to a person of less patriotism, pru- 



442 THE GREAT TREASON PLOT 

dence, firmness, perception and ability than yourself, the 
investigation would have been futile, and the disaster 
would have been precipitated. 

Our countrymen will ever appreciate the service you 
have rendered. It is too apparent to all thinking men, 
to require special remark, that had you not foiled those 
desperate Conspirators at the very moment you did, an 
irreparable disaster to our glorious cause would doubt- 
less have ensued, for with thousands of released rebels 
and their numerous treasonable allies in our midst, who 
can estimate the extent of the crimes they would have 
perpetrated. Those who write the history of this strug- 
gle through which we have passed, and record the 
names of men who rendered efficient aid to our country, 
will not forget the noble, self-sacrificing task of your- 
self nor fail to record it in letters of gold. 
Very Respectfully, 

Richard Yates. 



FROM GEN. H. L. BURNETT, JUDGE ADVOCATE. 

"I became acquainted with Col. I. Winslow Ayer, 
while he was engaged in the service of the Government, 
in the investigation of treasonable plots and designs of a 
secret, sworn, treasonable organization existing in Illi- 
nois, Indiana, and elsewhere. I was Judge Advocate of 
the Military Commission held in Cincinnati, Ohio, in 
the winter of 1S64-5, for the trial of St. Leger Grenfell 
and others arrested in Chicago, November 6, 1864, on 
charge of conspiring to liberate the prisoners of war in 
Camp Douglas, and to lay waste and destroy the city of 
Chicago. I was most favorably impressed with the 
loyalty and efficiency of said Ayer. The accused were 



DURING THE WAR. 443 

convicted upon all the charges and specifications of the 
indictment and severally sentenced. The evidence of 
all the witnesses for the Government convinced me that 
there had existed a most extensive and formidable secret 
treasonable organization in Chicago and elsewhere, 
which, had its designs and plots not been timely dis- 
closed to the government, would have caused great dis- 
aster to the city of Chicago and the Country. 

While 1 was in Washington as Judge Advocate of 
the Military Commission engaged in the trial of the as- 
sassins of President Lincoln, I received a letter from 
said Ayer giving certain important information. 

From testimony before the Military Commission in 
the trial of the Indiana Conspirators, and the Military 
Commission at Cincinnati, I was convinced that there 
existed in certain Northern States, as well as in the 
Border States, a widespread conspiracy to actively aid the 
rebels in arms against the Government, which was 
virtually broken up. I was impressed from first to last 
in my acquaintance with said Ayer, that he was zeal- 
ous and patriotic and discharged his duties to the Gov- 
ernment in a skillful and prudent manner." 

Henry L. Burnett, 
[seal.] New York. 

FROM HON. W. H. RAND, OF RAxND, m'nALLY & CO., 
PUBLISHERS. 

Hon. Wm. H. Rand, of Chicago, testified: " In piy 
acquaintance with Col. I. Winslow Ayer, I ever re- 
garded him as a gentleman of excellent character, edu- 
cation and culture, and a sincere and zealous patriot. I 
have no doubt that but for his timely and efficient ser- 



444 THE GREAT TREASON PLOT 

vice for the Government, the terrible plots of the trea- 
sonable organization would have been executed." 
[sEAL.J Wm. H. Rand. 



FROM HON. J. C. BURROWS, M. C. 

[Extract from a letter to Hon. Robt. Lincoln, Secretary of War.]- 

"Dr. Ayer is a gentleman of culture, and is recom- 
mended in unqualified terms by gentlemen of the high- 
est distinction — Governors of States, Generals in the 
Army, Members of Congress, Clergymen, Judges and 
others, several of wbom are personally known to me, 
residents in the Congressional District I represented In 
Congress. He is esteemed most by those who know 
him best. J. C. Burrows, Kalamazoo, Mich. 



FROM HON. ISAAC N. ARNOLD, M. C. 

Chicago, May lo, 1865. 
"Col. I. Winslow Ayer — Dear Sir: — 

Last summer you stated to me that there existed a 
widespread Conspiracy having its agents, some of them 
in our city. So startling were the disclosures, that it 
was difficult to believe that anything so infamous could 
exist. Subsequent events and the terrible tragedy 
developing such fiend-like atrocity at Washington, have 
shown that we were too slow in guarding against 
traitors and their barbarous plots. 

For the courage, vigilance, activity and patriotism 
you have displayed, you are entitled to the gratitude of 
the people; you are also well entitled to the favor of 
the Government. Very Respectfully Yours, 

Isaac N. Arnold, M. C." 



DUiilNG THE WAR. 445 

FROM FARRAGUT POST NO. 32, G. A. R., RATTLE 
CREEK, MICH. 

"We have listened to the address of Col. I. Winslow 
Ayer, entitled "Hidden Perils of the Republic During 
the War of ^iie Rebellion," and most heartily commend 
it to every mail and w^oman in the land, as a hitherto 
unwritten history of greatest interest and importance. 
It is a vivid portrayal of scenes and events of which the 
g^eneral public are uninformed, and which though start- 
ling and thrilling, are faithfully and truly presented. 
The full endorsment of Col. Ayer by Major Generals 
, nd other distinguished army officers, as well as by 
Governors of States, and the most eminent officials of 
the nation, are honors seldom won in the service, and 
entitles him to the highest consideration of all citizens 
of our country. To all officers and comrades of the G. 
A. R., we commend him in all sincerity and cordiality. 
The address is a masterly production^ patriotic and 
noble in sentiment, and certain to be productive of great 
good in whatever section of the Union it may be given. 
Simeon S. French, Col. Commanding. 



VOICE OF THE PRESS: 

The general sentiment of the leading news journals 
all over the Union was voiced in the following: 

FROM THE inter OCEAN: 

"Lieut. Governor Smith, after explaining the absence 
of Governor Oglesby, and reading a telegram from him 
regretting his inability to be present, then introduced 
Col. I. Winslow Ayer, who made the address of the 
evening, upoo the " Great Conspiracy in the North 
During the War." 



*^® THE GREAT TREASON PLOT 

"Col. Ayerisa man of commanding physique, his 
white hair and beard giving him a place in the years of 
which he tells so thrillingly, and his voice, never weak 
in the cause of liberty, is never stronger than when 
denouncing the conspiracy, which came so near wreck- 
ing the Government in its hours of trial. He told in 
graphic periods of the growth of the Order " Sons of 
Liberty '^ and its ramifications, and described with that 
vividness which is only at the command of the eye 
witness. He rehearsed the details of thediabolical plot 
for the liberation of the prisoners in Camp Douglas, 
and for.the sacking of Chicago. He told of the arrest 
and trial of the leaders and of the frustration of the plot, 
and referred to the fact that men whom they arrested 
then were now trusted officials of the Government. 
Col. Ayer's address was listened to with marked atten- 
tion throughout, and his eloquent periods elicited 
repeated bursts of applause." 

All the news journals of the city were lavish in praise 
of the address. 



FROM THE CHICAGO TRIBUNE. 

" Several communications that have recently appeared 
in the Tribune relative to a plot many years ago, to 
release the rebel prisoners at Camp Douglas a^'nd to 
plunder and destroy Chicago, have recalled the name of 
Dr. I. Winslow Ayer, who was the chief instrument by 
which the conspiracy was discovered and nipped in the 
bud. His was an important mission, and the part he 
took in unearthing the plot won numerous testimonials 
both from the Government and citizens of Chicago. 
The doctor is now an old gentleman, but he is yet ag 



DURING THE WAR. 447 



vigorous, both mentally and physically, as ever, and has 
lost none of the old bitterness with which he assailed the 
conspirators a quarter of a century ago. The old gen- 
tleman is employing his leisure in writing books, and is 
preparing for publication a history of the great North- 
western Conspiracy under the title of "Hidden Dangers 
of the Republic during the War of the Rebellion." 
Dr. Ayer has a quick tongue, a bright, piercing eye and 
a pronounced vein of humor. In speaking of the chief 
conspirators, he is as vigorous in language as" he was 
twenty years ago." 

In a former issue the Chicago Tribune said: '' Col. 
Ayer has saved the city of Chicago from the torch and 
her people from the sword. Therefore the rebel 
organs hold him as a personal foe— open upon him their 
malignity, and spirt from beneath their forked tongues 
the fatal venom. It is honorable to Col. Ayer to be 
thus assailed. Such an assault enrolls him among the 
patriotic men of this age, and proves that he has ren- 
dered to the Country and Chicago some great service. 
Next in honor to the praise of angels are the maledic- 
tions of the damned. Next in honor to the applause of 
patriots is the condemnation of the Conspirators and 
their sympathizers." 

FROM CITIZENS OF KALAMAZOO, MICH. 

"Dr. I. VVinslow Ayer is a gentleman of liberal culture 
and education. In connection with an exploring expe- 
dition, he visited and has ably written of the great West 
from Alaska to the Gulf, and from the Mississippi to 
the Pacific. He is a southern man, while his residence 
at the North has also familiarized him with the people 



448 THE GREAT TREASON PLOT 

and polity of this section of the Union. He is an author 
of some of our best books in literature and science, and 
a pleasing speaker. 

E. W. DeYoe, Mayor of Kalamazoo. 

William Shakespeare, Q. M. G. M. S. T. 

A. S. Hays, City Treasurer. 

Delos Phillips, Col. G. A. R. 

Geo. F. Hunting, Pastor First Presbyterian Church. 

J. L. Hawes, Late Judge of Circuit Court. 

Robt. F. Hill, Commander Orcutt Post, G. A. R. 

A.J. Shakespeare, Ed. Gazette and Postmaster. 

L. N. Burke, Judge of Recorder's Court. 

J. Frank Alley, U. S. Commissioner. 



FROM THE PEORIA, ILL., TRANSCRIPT, 1065. 

"Col. I. Winslow Ayer and his men have exhibited a 
self-sacrificing devotion to the country, the highest de- 
gree of patriotism, true heroism, utter disregard for self, 
interest, even of life itself, and stand out among the 
most prominent of our country's defenders, in the dark- 
est days of the Republic. Their names should be em- 
blazoned upon the tablet of honor, as those of men, 
vs^ho, in^ their country's hour of peril, rendered a noble 
and most important service, the memory of which should 
live in the hearts of a grateful people; for if they have 
rendered any service at all, they have not only saved 
Chicago from being a blackened and charred waste, 
but they have saved several of the Western and Border 
States from the rule of the enemy. 

It is evident to all who know the position of the 
Union and Southern armies on the 8th of November 



DURING THE WAI?. 449 

1S64, that had the prisoners been released from (.'amp 
Douglas, and, as a consequence, a general release of 
prisoners from all the Northern Posts, an army of for- 
midable proportions, desperate in the extreme, flushed 
with success, goaded by Grant's advance upon Rich- 
mond, and joined by the treasonable secret societies, 
would not only have devastated our fair cities, but 
would have given our State and neighboring vStates into 
the power of the enemy. 

Col. Ayer and his Alien having broken up this for- 
midable conspiracy, having saved Chicago from ashes, 
and the country from a terrible disaster, no doubt the 
magnanimity of the citizens, the gratitude of the people 
of that city, and of our state, and the whole country will 
be evinced toward them. Let us either endorse and 
approve the " Sons of Liberty " and other bands of 
secret traitors who killed our President, or commend 
the noble services of the men who have broken up these 
organized and oath bound orders of Conspirators. One 
or the other we must do." 



FROM THE W^ESTERN BANNER. 

Col. I. Winslow Ayer's name is familiar to every 
Union soldier. His distinguished services during the 
war elicited the highest commendations from the Gov- 
ernment. To him and his men belong the credit of 
breaking up the secret and dangerous orders of oath- 
bound traitors in the North and West, preventing the 
culmination of their fiendish plots, the enormity of 
which is not generally known, and which for atrocity 
has no parallel among civilized people. 



450 THE GREAT TREASON PLOT 

EUM BUREi^ 

[Biographical,] 

Col. I. Winslow Ayer is a Kentuckian. He was 
educated at Harvard College, and early in life took an 
active part in the affairs of city and State, having been 
honored with responsible positions of public trust. 
After a long experience as a successful journalist in 
Boston and New York, he employed his leisure time in 
literature, and several popular and scientific works of 
extraordinary merit, from his pen, grace our best 
libraries. 

In i'86i he removed from Kentucky, and took an 
active part in the cause of the Union. So eloquent and 
enthusiastic was he, that his success in the recruiting 
service was not surpassed, if equalled, by any other 
man. In 1862 he was called to Washington, before the 
examining board and offered the position of Brigade 
Surgeon. In 1864 he was called to Springfield, Illinois, 
by Governor Richard Yates, and assigned to special 
duty by Brig. Gen. H. E. Paine, then in command of 
the District of Illinois, and later served under orders of 
Maj. Gen. Joseph Hooker, to the close of the war — his 
duty being to bring to light, and if possible to crush the 
most formidable and widespread Conspiracy against the 
Government, having its origin with the " Knights of 
the Golden Circle," and further developed by other 
sworn treasonable orders, viz: "American Knights" 
and " Sons of Liberty." 

Organizing a trusty corps of men, he entered upon 
the perilous work, and carried it to a successful termina- 
tion, eliciting the highest encomiums of his command- 



DURING THE WAR. 461 

ing General, and of Hon. E. Stanton, Secretary of 
War, and of the few who knew of his arduous duties 
and his heroic devotion to his country. At one time 
Chicago was'in imminent peril and would have been 
pillaged and destroyed, and the military authorities and 
prominent loyal citizens would have been assassinated, 
but for his faithful, prompt and effective measures. Col. 
B. J. Sweet, then in command of the Post, was informed 
of all the facts, and to Officers Ayer and Sweet only, 
was due the preservation of the city from impending 
and certain destruction. The citizens could scarcely 
believe the truth of this great peril, till the trials of 
Conspirators by the Military Commissions were held, 
when the facts were fully proven by abundant corrobor- 
ative evidence and several of the leaders were convicted 
and sentenced. 

So exasperated were the members of the Order, that 
several attempts were made to assassinate Col. Ayer. 
At one time he was fired upon at night, on his return 
from Camp Douglas, while stepping from his carriage. 

After the close of the war, Col. Ayer was Surgeon 
of an exploring expedition which afforded him oppor- 
tunities for the production of his great work — " Won- 
ders of the Western World." With extraordinary 
powers of endurance, he still continues his labors in 
literature and in the lecture field." 



FROM THE DEPARTMENT COMMANDER G. A. R. OF 
MINNESOTA. 

"Col. I. Winslow Ayer — Comrade: — 

I shall await with considerable interest the receipt of 
your new book which proposes to open up to tlie light 



452 THE GREAT TREASON PLOT 

af the world the nefarious work of the " Knights of the 
Golden Circle," when the life of this glorious nation 
hung by a thread, and they were trying to sever that 
thread and destroy the best government on* earth. 

As we havx witnessed since the war, many of the 
very men who plotted our overthrow in the North, 
elevated to positions of trust and kept there as guardians 
of the interests of loyal men, it has been enough to 
make all loyal blood boil with rage. Wishing you the 
greatest success, I remain yours in F. C. & L. 

A. H. Reed, Sr. Vice Dep't Commander. 
Glencoe, Minn., July 3, 1895. 



FROM PAST DEPARTMENT COMMANDER G. A. R., MAINE 

Oakland, Maine, July 3, 1S95. 
Col. I. Winslovv A^'er, Dear Sir and Comrade: — 

" Your book must be a very valuable contribution to 
the history of the war of the Rebellion period, dealing 
as it does with the Rebellion and Rebels in the North ^ 
of which the rising generation can have only the faint- 
est idea, but which nevertheless, at different times, and 
in divers places, assumed huge proportions and which 
gave aid and encouragement to the braver men in the 
South, who in open warfare sought their ends; and I am 
glad that you have put upon enduring record so much 
that bears directly upon the principles of unity and 
strength, the glory and perpetuity of our Republic." 
Sincerely Yours in F. C. & L., 

J. Wesley Gilmore, 
Past Dep't Commander (1894.) 



DURING THE WAR. 453 

FROM DEPARTMENT COMMANDER, GEN. S. H. DA BOLL, 
MICHIGAN G. A. R. 

Col. I. Winslow Ayer, My Dear Comrade: I heart- 
ily commend your project of making the record of 
" The Great Treason Plot " public through a book. It 
is hard to make some people at this time, realize the dan- 
ger we were in as a Nation, in more ways than on the 
battle field, during those times, and anything that can be 
done to show the " true inwardness '' of that Rebellion 
is to be commended, and by me will be encouraged. I 
am very truly yours in F. C. & L. 

S. B. Daboll. 

[Gen. Daboll is also Judge of the Circuit Court, and 
is w^ell known for his patriotic devotion to the Country 
during the' war, and one of the ablest jurists upon the 
bench.] 



FROM HON. N. ROLLINS, PAST DEPARTMENT COM- 
MANDER, DEPARTMENT OF COLORADO 
AND WYOMING. 

Col. I. Winslow Ayer — Dear Sir and Comrade: 

I am looking anxiously for your book, believing it 
will be a most important and valuable addition to the 
literature growing out of our great civil war. 
I remain sincerely yours, 

N. Rollins. 



il 



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